“I Kept Going Back”: Ongoing Pain After Abdominal Surgery, and When It’s Been Missed
Summary
Some pain after abdominal surgery is expected. But pain that gets worse, keeps returning, or comes with fever, vomiting or bowel changes can be a sign of a complication: a leak, an abscess, a blockage, a hernia, or adhesions. This guide is for people who kept going back with pain after surgery and were reassured, until something serious was found. It explains common causes, warning signs, and when ongoing pain might point to care that fell short.
Quick answer · updated November 2026
Pain that should be settling but isn’t needs a proper look, not just reassurance. Leaks, abscesses and bowel obstruction need prompt treatment. Adhesions are very common after abdominal surgery and can’t be seen on scans. If you kept returning with pain and a complication was found late, you can ask for your records from each visit.
Pain after abdominal surgery at a glance
- 1First daysPain should improve day by day.
- 2First weeksWorsening pain, fever or vomiting: think leak or abscess.
- 3Months laterRecurring cramps or blockage: think adhesions or hernia.
- 4Going backEach visit should look afresh, not just reassure.
- 5Your recordsEach visit’s notes show what was considered.
At any stage: abdominal pain with being unable to pass wind or poo, or with vomiting, needs emergency care.
I had my gallbladder out by keyhole surgery when I was thirty-four. The surgeon said I’d be back at work in a week.
A week later I was worse, not better. I had a dull pain under my ribs on the right and felt hot and cold. The surgeon’s rooms said some pain was normal and to keep taking paracetamol.
I went to my GP, who said the same. Then to the emergency department, where a doctor pressed my tummy, said my blood tests were “a bit up”, and sent me home with antibiotics.
The fourth time I went back, I couldn’t stand up straight.
A composite story, drawn from the experiences of many families I have worked with, combined and changed so that no one can be identified. It does not describe any individual client.
If you kept going back with pain after surgery and were told it was normal, I want you to know that you weren’t making a fuss. You knew your body wasn’t recovering the way it should.
This guide covers expected and unexpected pain, common complications, adhesions, warning signs, what your records should show, and how the law looks at a complication found late.
Why I can write this
I have been a medical negligence lawyer since 2014 and have worked on many hundreds of claims, including many involving surgical complications. My doctorate looked at patterns of failure in medical negligence. I am not medically qualified. The clinical facts in this article are checked against named sources, listed in the references, and I explain how I work in our editorial standards.
Start with your question
- How much pain is normal after abdominal surgery?
- What complications cause pain in the first weeks?
- What are adhesions?
- What are the signs of bowel obstruction?
- What should happen when I go back with pain?
- When is pain after surgery an emergency?
- Could a missed complication be negligence?
What is expected
After abdominal surgery, wound pain, some bloating, and shoulder-tip pain after keyhole surgery are common. The key sign of normal recovery is direction: pain should be improving day by day, not getting worse.
Complications in the first weeks
Pain that worsens, especially with fever, a racing heart, vomiting or feeling generally unwell, can mean a complication such as a leak from the bowel or bile duct, an abscess (a collection of infection), bleeding, or an injury to the bowel during surgery. These usually need scans and sometimes further surgery. Our guide to bowel injury during surgery explains why such injuries can be missed at first.
Adhesions
Definition
Adhesions are bands of scar tissue that form between organs or tissues as the body heals, joining structures that are normally separate.
In plain terms: internal scars that can stick parts of the bowel together.
Better Health Channel says up to 93% of people who have abdominal surgery develop adhesions. Many cause no symptoms, but they can cause chronic pain, painful sex, infertility and bowel obstruction. Symptoms are often vague and can look like other conditions. Blood tests and scans can’t diagnose adhesions; a diagnostic laparoscopy is the only test that confirms them. About 70% of operations to remove adhesions lead to new ones.1
Adhesions are a recognised consequence of surgery, not usually a sign of poor care in themselves. The legal questions tend to arise when a complication such as obstruction is not recognised and treated in time.
Bowel obstruction
Better Health Channel says adhesions cause 60 to 70% of small bowel obstructions in adults.1 healthdirect describes small bowel obstruction as sudden cramping pain, often around the belly button, with being unable to pass wind or poo, and vomiting. Constant severe pain may mean the blood supply to the bowel is affected. It advises going to the emergency department right away with abdominal pain and being unable to pass wind or poo.2
Months or years later
Pain that returns months later can come from adhesions, a hernia at a wound, or something unrelated to the operation. Repeated visits with similar pain should prompt someone to look at the whole picture.
What should happen when you go back
Each time you return with pain after surgery, the doctor should take your recent operation into account, examine you, and consider whether tests or a scan are needed. Being sent away with reassurance more than once, while symptoms are getting worse, is a pattern worth noticing.
Questions to ask
- Could this be a complication of my operation?
- Do I need blood tests or a scan today?
- Should my surgeon know I’m here?
- What would make you more worried?
Worth a review, or emergency
Call your surgeon today
- Pain worse than yesterday
- A red, hot or leaking wound
- Loss of appetite and feeling unwell
- A bulge near a scar
In plain terms: ask to be seen, not just reassured.
Emergency
- Severe or constant pain
- Fever, chills or a racing heart
- Vomiting and a swollen tummy
- Unable to pass wind or poo
In plain terms: go to emergency and say what surgery you had.
On the fourth visit, a CT scan showed a large collection of bile in my abdomen. A clip on the bile duct had come loose. I had a drain, then another operation, and spent two weeks in hospital.
When I got my records, every visit was there. Day 7: “expected post-op pain”. Day 9, my GP: “reassured, simple analgesia”. Day 11, emergency: “raised inflammatory markers, ?wound infection, oral antibiotics”. No scan until day 15.
The second surgeon said a leak like this can happen with good surgery. What bothered him was the time it took to find.
My partner had driven me to every one of those visits. In the car on the way home from getting the records, he said, “Four times.” That was all either of us said.
A composite story, drawn from the experiences of many families I have worked with, combined and changed so that no one can be identified. It does not describe any individual client.
What to look for in the records
Your records are often where the story becomes clear. You have a right to access your own health information. In NSW the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 covers both public and private providers, and the Information and Privacy Commission explains how to ask.3 Our step-by-step guide to getting your medical records in Australia walks you through it.
| Record | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Operation report | Records what was done, and any difficulties during surgery. |
| Discharge summary | Shows the advice you were given about warning signs. |
| Notes from each return visit | Show your symptoms, examination and what was considered. |
| Blood tests | Show inflammation markers and whether they were rising. |
| Scan reports | Show when imaging was done and what it found. |
| Later operation reports | Record what was found when the complication was treated. |
| Your own diary, photos and messages | Notes made at the time are evidence too. Keep them. |
How the law looks at it
A complication after abdominal surgery is not automatically negligence. Leaks, infections and adhesions can happen with careful surgery. Often the legal questions are less about the operation itself and more about what happened afterwards: whether the complication was recognised and treated in time.
A claim usually turns on three questions: whether the care fell below what peers would widely accept as competent practice (section 5O of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW))4, whether that shortfall probably caused harm you wouldn't otherwise have had (Tabet v Gett)5, and, where it matters, whether you were told the material risks first (Rogers v Whitaker)67. Our guide to how a medical negligence claim works explains each one in plain terms.
In a post-surgery pain case, the questions might be: was the operation performed to the expected standard? When you returned with pain, was your recent surgery considered? Were you examined, and were appropriate tests or scans ordered? Were rising inflammation markers or worsening symptoms acted on? Was your surgeon told?
In plain terms, the question is whether earlier recognition would probably have meant a smaller procedure, a shorter illness, or less lasting harm.
For abdominal surgery, that would usually include the risks of leaks, infection, bowel injury, adhesions and further surgery.
Who can claim, and when
The person who had surgery can claim. If they have died, their family may have a claim. In NSW, time usually runs from when you knew, or ought to have known, enough to claim, not from the treatment itself, and courts can sometimes extend it, so an old injury may still count. See time limits in NSW or other states, and ask early.
More: complaint or claim? · how a claim is paid for · what a claim can cover
In my practice
In post-surgery files, the striking thing is often the number of visits. A person returns three or four times, to the surgeon, the GP and emergency, and each doctor sees one snapshot and offers reassurance. Nobody steps back and asks why someone who should be getting better keeps coming back. Laying the visits side by side usually makes the pattern clear.
Both things can be true
Your surgeon may have done a careful operation, and the complication may have been a recognised risk. And the follow-up may still have fallen short. Both can be true.
The bigger picture
Complaints about care in NSW can go to the Health Care Complaints Commission,8 and you can check a surgeon’s registration on the Ahpra public register.9 If you were sent home from hospital before you were ready, see discharged too soon.
Our surgical errors and hospital negligence page brings together related guides, including bariatric surgery and endometriosis laparoscopy.
Support
You don't have to work through this alone. These services can help:
- Lifeline, 24-hour crisis support: 13 11 14 (listed on healthdirect's helplines page)10
- Beyond Blue, anxiety and depression support: 1300 22 4636
- Medicare Mental Health, help finding mental health support: 1800 595 212
- healthdirect, 24-hour nurse advice: 1800 022 222
- Health Care Complaints Commission (NSW): 1800 043 159
A woman who went back four times now knows she wasn’t overreacting. You deserve that reassurance too.
With care,
Rosemary
Frequently asked questions
How much pain is normal after abdominal surgery?
Some pain is expected, but it should improve each day. Worsening pain needs review.
What are adhesions?
Bands of internal scar tissue. Up to 93% of people develop them after abdominal surgery.
Can adhesions be seen on a scan?
No. A diagnostic laparoscopy is the only test that confirms them.
What are signs of bowel obstruction?
Cramping pain, vomiting and being unable to pass wind or poo. Go to emergency.
Is a leak after surgery negligence?
Not necessarily. Leaks can happen with good surgery. Delay in finding one may raise questions.
Can I claim if a complication was found late?
You may well have a claim if care fell below the accepted standard and earlier treatment would have made a difference.
Questions about pain after surgery?
When you're ready, and not before, I can look at what happened and help you understand your options.
Surgical and hospital care guides
- “I kept going back”: Ongoing pain after abdominal surgery (you are here)
- “My oxygen dropped and nobody told me”: When colonoscopy sedation goes wrong
- Hypoxic brain injury during surgery or sedation
- “They said it was a pulled muscle”: Missed blood clots (DVT and PE)
- Sepsis and leg removal: when is that medical negligence?
- Failed eye surgery: when your vision gets worse
Part of our guide to surgical errors and hospital negligence. Not sure where you stand? Try the free claim checker.
References
- Better Health Channel (Victoria). Adhesions.
- healthdirect. Bowel obstruction.
- Information and Privacy Commission NSW. Fact sheet: Accessing your health information in NSW.
- Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) s 5O, Standard of care for professionals.
- Tabet v Gett [2010] HCA 12.
- Rogers v Whitaker [1992] HCA 58; (1992) 175 CLR 479.
- Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Informed consent.
- Health Care Complaints Commission NSW. Home page.
- Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Register of practitioners.
- healthdirect Australia. Mental health helplines.
Stories in this article are composites, drawn from the experiences of many families I have worked with, combined and changed so that no one can be identified. They do not describe any individual client.
Dr Rosemary Listing, PhD (Law), Medical negligence lawyer since 2014 · Of Counsel, Peter Evans & Associates. Rosemary's doctorate examined patterns of failure in medical negligence, and she teaches health law at the University of Newcastle. She is not medically qualified. About Rosemary.
Last updated: 10 November 2026 · First published: 10 November 2026 · Next review: May 2027
Cite this article: Listing R. “I kept going back”: Ongoing pain after abdominal surgery, and when it’s been missed. Reframe Legal. Published 10 November 2026. https://reframelegal.com/pain-after-abdominal-surgery/
This article is general information, not legal or medical advice. It does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Speak to your treating clinicians about your health, and get legal advice about your own situation.
If you are in danger or need urgent medical help, call 000. For crisis support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
Legal services are provided by Peter Evans & Associates.