My 87 year old father died earlier this year due to a bowel obstruction that
developed 2 days after routine surgery to repair a hip fracture. How
common is this? A temporary colostomy was performed but he developed a
leak elsewhere in his colon and was sent home to die.
Since he was on morphine to control his pain, should not the nurses
and hospital doctors have monitored his bowel movements and given him
enough stool softeners to prevent this from occurring? What are
general hospital protocols about this?