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Surgical Errors

Written by AskTheLawyers.com™

Surgical Errors

Written by AskTheLawyers.com™

AskTheLawyers™

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Have You Been Injured Due to a Surgical Error?

Medical Malpractice Attorneys can Provide Free Legal Advice

Deciding to undergo surgery is often a stressful decision with many considerations, due in no small part to a fear of surgical error, which is just one area of medical malpractice. In fact, between 44,000 and 98,000 surgical patients die every year due to preventable medical errors. Approximately 33% of these fatalities are directly related to surgical errors or post-surgery complications.

Medical malpractice occurs when the exercise of medical judgment is done negligently, causing injury or damage to the patient; this includes failing to provide a reasonable degree of skill and care to a patient. If a medical professional’s treatment fails to meet something called the standard of care, including making avoidable surgical errors, that is considered medical malpractice.

If you or a loved one have been injured due to surgical error, you may be eligible to file a claim. While it makes sense that hospitals should be required to report these “never events” or surgical errors, they often avoid acknowledging that a mistake occurred. This is one of many reasons it’s a good idea to talk to a personal injury lawyer if you think you may have a medical malpractice claim.

What are the Statistics on Surgical Error?

The most common types of surgical error include operating on the wrong part of the body, leaving objects inside the body after surgery, making an incorrect cut, incorrectly transfusing blood, and using non-sterile instruments. While there are other types of surgical error beyond these common never events, it’s important to note that any surgical error could result in catastrophic and sometimes permanent damage.

Let’s go over some important surgical error statistics:

  • The majority of surgeons involved in surgical error have been previously accused of medical malpractice (New England Journal of Medicine).
  • On average, over 4,000 every year are injured due to preventable surgical error (Johns Hopkins).
  • Only 2% of the victims who are injured due to medical negligence seek legal compensation (New England Journal of Medicine).
  • Statistics have shown that on average up to 12,000 people die due to unnecessary surgery every year as a result of negligence. (Journal of the American Medical Association)
  • According to Medical News today, studies have shown that at least 39 times every week a surgeon leaves a foreign object inside their patients. Foreign objects which are commonly left inside patients in surgical error cases include sponges and towels.
  • Studies have shown that around 20 times a week, surgeons perform the wrong surgery or operate on the wrong part of the body (Johns Hopkins Medicine).

Who is Responsible for a Surgical Error?

It can be hard to prove whether an injury sustained during surgery is the result of true surgical error or simply an unfortunate outcome of a medical procedure. The key to determining whether true surgical error/medical malpractice occurs, is whether the injury could have been avoided by another trained, competent surgeon in the same field. Due to the number and variety of medical professionals involved in any one procedure, there could be multiple parties liable for surgical error. Depending on the specific circumstances of a procedure, there are several parties who may be involved in a particular case. These may include:

  • Individual providers. Any healthcare professional involved in a surgery from doctors to surgeons, to nurses may be held liable if their patient sustains injuries due to surgical error. Sometimes this may mean multiple parties are guilty of negligence, or could mean that the surgeon in charge is held liable for the mistakes they should have spotted by the staff they were overseeing.
  • Hospitals. A hospital may be held liable due to its own negligence or the negligence of its employees. When a hospital hires medical staff, they are responsible for making sure they only hire applicants with sufficient training and experience. They are also required to ensure full-staffing and fair treatment of their staff to reduce the amount of exhaustion-related mistakes which might otherwise occur. To fail to do is negligent and can result in harm for their patients. Additionally, if a hospital refuses to admit or treat a patient based on race, color, religion, or another qualifying factor, the hospital could be liable for any damages which occur as a result.
  • Health maintenance organizations. Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are a kind of alternative to traditional health insurance which may offer a lower monthly premium and has its own specific network of medical providers. If an HMO is accused of including or retaining an unqualified healthcare professional in their network, they may be liable for medical malpractice which occurs as a result.

Do You Have a Claim for a Surgical Error?

Depending on the nature of you or your family member’s injuries due to a surgical error, your personal injury lawyer may identify possible claims for:

  • Medical expenses. Injuries resulting from surgical error may include: injury due to a foreign object left in the body; injuries due to the wrong procedure; injuries due to operating on the wrong site; nerve damage; injury from too much anesthesia; internal bleeding; and, in the worst case scenario, death.
  • Lost wages (or impairment of earning capacity) as a result of hospital stay-time, or, for the loved one of a surgical error victim, the necessity to temporarily or permanently extricate themselves from work in order to provide care.
  • Lifecare expenses, such as life support or ongoing medical expenses for chronic injuries.
  • Vocational rehabilitation.
  • Pain and suffering, for both emotional and physical distress.
  • Loss of consortium (the services of a close family member) and loss of care and companionship.
  • Wrongful death.
  • Funeral expenses.

If you were injured by surgical error or if a loved one was killed by a surgeon’s mistake, you need a personal injury attorney that understands the emotional and physical toll these errors can take. An experienced attorney will be aggressive in seeking the compensation that you deserve.

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