Once the patient is diagnosed with fulminant colitis and meets the eligibility criteria, he/she will be asked by the surgeon on-call if they would like to participate in this research study. If they agree to be in this study, they must first sign a consent form. They may be asked by the surgeon to enroll in either the investigational arm (loop ileostomy) or the standard of care arm. After surgery, all patients will receive the same standard routine care. During the hospital stay, information will be taken from their chart for purposes of the study. Routine follow up visits with their surgeon will be at 2, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. If the patient decides to be in the study, the patient will be expected to complete all the follow up study visits. The patient will not be required to do anything extra or have any extra tests if they decide to be in the study at any of these visits.