There are literally thousands of different types of surgical procedures available in modern medicine to correct various health problems. From heart surgery to routine appendix removals to plastic surgery for cosmetic enhancement, today’s surgeries can accomplish a wide range of physical objectives. While surgery can be a powerful healing tool, surgeries performed incorrectly can have serious and even grave consequences for patients.
Surgical Risks vs. Surgeon Error
If something happens during a surgery and the patient gets hurt, who is at fault? While doctors and hospitals might tell you that things happen and every surgery involves risk, medical malpractice attorneys know all too well that surgeon error is often avoidable and can result in serious harm.
Before surgery, patients must sign a waiver indicating they know and understand the reasonable risks involved with the procedure. Things like unusual reactions to medication, excessive bleeding, infection, and other risks are present, rare, and exist regardless of surgeon action. But when a surgeon’s actions greatly increase risk of adverse health problems or directly cause harm, the patient or their family members may have grounds for a medical malpractice case. Surgical errors may occur in many forms, including:
- Surgery on the wrong site
- Infection due to failure to sterilize
- Anesthesia errors
- Foreign objects left in surgery site
- C-section errors
- Deformities from plastic surgery errors
- Wrong surgery
- Organ perforation
- Blood vessel or nerve injury
- Failure to monitor during recovery
- Surgical Error Lawsuits
Surgeons who act carelessly during surgery, who deviate from accepted medical standards of care, should be held accountable to the victims and families affected by surgical malpractice. In some cases, surgeons or operating room personnel have been found to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or extremely fatigued, creating a highly volatile situation for innocent patients on the table.
Victims of surgical malpractice deserve fair compensation for the injuries they sustained while undergoing a procedure. Medical malpractice attorneys with vast surgical error claims experience can provide you and your family with definitive answers about your legal rights and help you bring a claim against a negligent surgeon, anesthesiologist, assisting physician, or nurse. A skilled medical malpractice lawyer can lead a comprehensive investigations using qualified medical experts and other resources to find out why mistakes were made.