A WOMAN says the smell of rotting skin emanating from her stomach after a tummy tuck went horribly wrong still haunts her nightmares.
Rowah Kaddour had a tummy tuck and liposuction on her abdomen and thighs in March 2019.
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Instead of being discharged within a few days, the botched procedure to Rowah’s tummy and things saw her rushed by ambulance to two separate hospitals as the skin on her stomach rotted.
Rowah is now pursuing legal action against her surgeon, who she alleged failed to explain the potential risks of her surgery and didn’t identify the severe infection she developed afterwards, as well as the hospital she had the procedure at.
“The surgery ruined my life,” Rowah told ABC News . “It was like being in hell.”
In her case against the surgeon and hospital, Rowah claims she sustained a life-threatening infection and sepsis after the tummy tuck, and was left with psychological trauma and distress due to the “gross disfigurement” of her body.
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‘It looked like the flesh had been eaten’
The catering company owner lost a significant amount of weight before being referred to the specialist plastic surgeon who carried out her tummy tuck and liposuction.
Rowah had the procedures on March 14, 2019.
A friend – who happened to be a registered nurse – visited her afterwards and became concerned about the pain Rowah was in, as well as the foul smell emanating from her wounds.
She described the wounds as ‘putrid’ and said “it looked like the flesh had been eaten”, according to the statement of claim that’s part of Rowah’s legal action.
The nurse also noticed that an air conditioner with a vent was dripping onto Rowah.
Pictures of Rowah’s stomach following the procedure lay bare the extent of the infection – her skin looked black, inflamed and was breaking down and oozing pus in some parts.
Court documents allege that the nurse called Rowah’s surgeon to tell him his patient was septic and needed to be transferred to another hospital for treatment, before helping her friend shower and assisting in dressing her wounds.
Hospital notes from the time also show that Rowah was in a lot of pain and needed stronger and stronger painkillers, ABC News reported.
Rowah was transferred to the emergency department of another hospital, where she allegedly told a doctor: “I wish I had died during the operation instead of this.”
She was transferred to a third hospital a day later, where she underwent multiple surgeries in a month. Rowah told ABC News she was discharged from this hospital while her wounds were still open but needed to leave as she felt she was having a mental breakdown.
Recent photos of Rowah show extensive scarring and skin missing from her abdomen..
Rowah’s surgeon and the hospital she received the procedure in deny they breached any duty of care, ABC News reported.
Sun Health has contacted them both for comment.