Surgical error during gallbladder surgery has lead to significant injuries. Can we file a medical malpractice lawsuit?

My wife entered the Hospital in June of 2007 with significant abdominal pain.  She was admitted and tested and told she either had irritable bowel syndrome or an incorrect gallbladder function.  She was referred to a doctor (actually my family practice doctor) who was on maternity leave at the time. The doctors husband (who is a surgeon and shares their practice) saw my wife at this time and suggested that her gallbladder function was to low and she should have it removed. 

My wife was required to wait 10 days to have the insurance check into the potential surgery and during this time she was in a great deal of pain.  She called the office and the doctor suggested going to the emergency room and since he was the on call surgeon at the hospital he would perform the surgery the next day.  The doctor performed the surgery the next day and my wife was in a great deal of pain afterwards.  She was given stronger pain medication and admitted to the hospital for observation. 

I stayed the night with her that evening and she passed out when she went to the bathroom.  She stopped breathing, urinated on me and her eyes rolled back into her head.  When I finally got the nurse into the room they gave her oxygen and did some cardiac tests.  They reduced her pain medication thinking that it was the cause of her being unconscious.  The next day she was still in a lot of pain and she was given some more advanced cardiac tests.  The nurses that were attending to her were convinced that she was bleeding internally.  The cardiac physician interpreted her test results and was convinced she had passed out due to blood loss. 

They notified the doctor and he took her back into surgery to find out why she was bleeding.  He installed some drain tubes and put her in ICU.  While she was in ICU she was still in a great deal of pain and was leaking bile into her drains.  They believed at this time that she also had bile leakage. Another doctor was brought in and they attempted to put a stint in her liver bed by going through her throat.  This procedure was unsuccessful so the doctor decided to open her up to see what was going on.  He did an exploratory surgery and found nothing abnormal. By this time she had been in the hospital at least a week. 

At some point just prior to the fourth of July she was released to come home.  That night she was in an incredible amount of pain and we had to call the ambulance to take her back to the hospital.  The doctor admitted her again.  When he visited her the next day he stated that he couldn't keep admitting her to the hospital for chronic pain.  He agreed to do another battery of tests.  During this testing he discovered that she did have some bile leakage that was causing the pain.  Another gastric doctor was brought in to put a stint in the liver bed.  Drains were installed and the pain subsided to an extent. My wife was finally sent home. 

My wife began having abdominal pain again some months later and we went to a different hospital because we were not happy with the care she received at the first hospital.  She had more testing done and also saw a doctor who performed a colonoscopy.  He suggested that some of the adhesions that had formed on her colon wall could be causing the pain.  She was admitted to the hospital and another battery of tests was performed.  The doctors at that hospital said there was nothing wrong with her.  At this point she was depressed to a great degree and she was dependent on prescription pain medicine because of the length of time she had been on them.  She went to a doctor in who specializes in bringing patients off pain medicine by apparently loading them up with excessive amounts of other drugs. 

Around the beginning of 2008 she decided to stop seeing doctors altogether and stopped all medication.  She had reoccurring pain and difficulty eating throughout the year.  She began seeing another doctor who again brought up the idea that scar tissue was causing the pain. She was operated on and the surgeon was able to remove all but the scar tissue around her colon.  She has finally experienced some relief but every now and again she has bouts of pain in the same area.

In March of 2008 she was terminated from her job for missing too much work. We began getting behind on bills and I used my 401k to keep us going for a while. We were able to stay current on everything for a long time until she was fired.  She lost approximately $2000 a month in income and our free apartment.  We finally declared bankruptcy in February. 

The medical profession in general and the doctor specifically failed my wife.  She still is not the same person she was both mentally and physically. We have been financially and emotionally exhausted by this ordeal and feel we have been seriously wronged. Should we talk to a medical malpractice lawyer about filing a lawsuit against the hospital?