Every type of surgery, even minor surgery, carries inherent risks and some chance of a poor outcome or even death. However, surgical mistakes are not an acceptable risk or an excusable cause of injury or death. While some mistakes are very obvious, such as the removal of the wrong limb, others may be hard to detect and your doctor may try to hide the fact that your poor outcome or a loved one’s death was due to an error rather than a normal risk of surgery.
Common Surgical Mistakes
Although it may be hard to believe, certain types of surgical errors happen rather frequently. They include:
- Inappropriate procedure due to failure to fully consider a patient’s medical history
- Anesthesia errors
- Use of dirty instruments and other unsanitary conditions
- Nicking or cutting of arteries, nerves, muscles, or organs, that should not have been involved in the surgery
- Leaving items inside of the patient such as gauze, sponges, or instruments
- Wrong site surgery – surgery on the wrong part of the body including removing the wrong limb or organ, or performing a procedure that was supposed to be performed on a different patient
Injuries Caused by Surgical Mistakes
In some cases surgical mistakes are fairly minor and have little or no negative impact on the patient. However, even a very small mistake can have serious or deadly consequences. Even survivable surgical mistakes can change your life forever. For instance, wrong site surgery can result in a vast array of unnecessary medical issues such as infertility, the need for a pacemaker, inability to walk or use your hands, and more. The results of surgical mistakes can include:
- Infection
- Extended recovery time
- Mild to severe pain
- Need for additional surgery or surgeries
- Disfigurement
- Loss of limb or organ
- Brain injury
- Spinal cord injury
- Paralysis
- Coma
- Permanent disability
- Birth injury
- Death
If you or a loved one have been injured by a surgical mistake, call the Cole Law Office at 800-909-LAWS (5297) or contact us online. The initial consultation is free of charge, and if we agree to handle your case, we will work on a contingency fee basis, which means we get paid for our services only if there is a monetary recovery of funds. In many cases, a lawsuit must be filed before an applicable expiration date, known as a statute of limitations. Please call right away to ensure that you do not waive your right to possible compensation.