A WOMAN now suffers agonising pain, has a shortened life expectancy, has contemplated suicide and has to have regular operations since her gallstone operation went horribly wrong.

Barbara Rose Barber, of Hadspen, near Launceston, was also not told of the risks associated with the surgery, that a trainee surgeon would perform the operation, and that it had gone wrong afterwards.

"They said it was a little tricky, but everything was fine, everything was OK," Mrs Barber told the Supreme Court in Hobart yesterday.

She is suing the Launceston General Hospital for personal injuries after the gall bladder operation on November 14, 1995.

The hospital has already admitted liability so the case is only for assessment of damages.

Robert Phillips, counsel for Mrs Barber, said her common bile duct was clipped twice and cut once during the laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery, done by a trainee surgeon under supervision.

Mr Phillips said bile was needed by the body to emulsify fats and an interrupted bile flow meant it built up to toxic levels in the liver, causing liver disease, possible failure and perhaps death.

Mr Phillips said Mrs Barber was never told keyhole surgery was riskier than open surgery. She was told if there were complications it would revert to open surgery but this didn't happen and she wasn't told the operation had gone wrong.

"I anticipated I'd be fine by the end of the week, I heard three days was the normal (recovery) time," Mrs Barber said.

She was jaundiced and ill upon discharge and was re-admitted to the hospital. Ten days after the first operation she had reconstructive surgery but was again not told what it was for.

Mr Phillips said Mrs Barber was now an invalid, suffered nausea, depression and headaches, was on several medications, had several large scars, had chronic liver disease, reduced life expectancy, insomnia and could not consume alcohol or fatty foods.

She has had to wear a bile bag to collect drained bile. It leaked, was painful and had a "putrid smell", Mr Phillips said.

She has to go to a Melbourne hospital every three months for a dilation of the reconstructed duct. Wires and a balloon are inserted into the duct, under general anaesthetic, and it is very painful.

The court heard Mrs Barber had to sell her business, she was so depressed she contemplated suicide and her sexual relationship with her husband also suffered.

"I would always be optimistic I wouldn't be so sick, but after three years, after having these dilations, it's coming home to me my liver's never going to be all right."

The case continues today.