Pittsburgh Medical Malpractice Lawyer:
Surgical Errors
Many malpractice cases we pursue involve errors committed during surgery. Ranging from retained surgical devices (such as a sponge or surgical instrument) to catastrophic errors such as inadvertently removing a vital part of a patient's brain, surgical errors can have devastating consequences for the patient. Recent studies have shown that as many as 20% of surgical patients experience painful side effects and injuries due to surgical mistakes. Surgical errors come in many forms and can arise from the misconduct of any member of the operating-room team: the attending surgeon, a surgical resident, an operating room nurse, or the anesthesiologist. Surgical errors we're frequently asked to investigate include: operating on the wrong body part; improperly positioning the patient on the operating room table (often resulting in peripheral nerve injury); failing to monitor the patient during surgery; or improper or substandard surgical technique.
Surgeons must be immediately familiar with the surgical anatomy to avoid injuring arteries, nerves, veins, and other vital structures within the operative field. Usually, such injuries can be completely avoided -- provided the surgeon knows what he is doing. Inattention to proper technique often causes mistakes that can catastrophically injure patients.
With advancing medical technology, surgeons nowadays can approach problems using a wide range of operative techniques. During the last 20 years, general surgery has witnessed a shift from "open" operations, in which the patient's body is entered using a wide incision, to laparoscopic or thoracoscopic procedures, in which operating instruments are introduced into the patient's body under guidance from a fiberoptic camera. Minimally invasive approaches to many surgical problems, in which surgery is performed through an extremely small incision, have also become popular.
Many of these new surgical techniques are technically demanding and can expose the patient to serious harm if the operation is not performed by a skilled clinician.
Virtually every surgical procedure carries the risk of potential consequences. The range of possible complications, of course, depends upon the operation being performed and the surgical approach to the patient's problem. While complications can occur even when the surgeon performs the operation in a textbook manner, they will occur more frequently if the surgeon is inexperienced or is not intimately familiar with the surgical anatomy. Although a complication occurring in a surgical setting does not necessarily bespeak negligence or malpractice, patients should know that many surgical complications, especially those that are serious or life-threatening, are frequently caused by errors in technique. Being advised before surgery that a certain complication can occur following a specific operation does not necessarily mean that negligence has not occurred when that complication actually comes to pass.
Every year, our law firm reviews hundreds of cases involving surgical mistakes. In investigating a case, we secure complete copies of the patient's medical records, pertinent x-rays, and photographs taken during surgery. We scrutinize operative reports describing the patient's surgery, together with subsequent notes describing intraoperative complications to discover whether surgical error has produced or contributed to our client's injury.
Our lawyers have successfully recovered settlements and verdicts for clients in a wide range of hospital negligence and surgical error cases, including those involving:
- Pulmonary embolism―a blood clot (deep venous thrombosis) forming in the leg and traveling to the brain or lung―a condition that is preventable with proper use of anti-coagulants
- Retained surgical devices―a sponge or surgical instrument left in patient following surgery
- Accidentally removing a vital part of a patient's brain accidentally
- Operating on the wrong body part
- Hospital-acquired infections, including MRSA
- Nerve injury from improperly positioning the patient on the operating room table
- Failing of the anesthesiologist to monitor the patient's breathing, heart rate, or oxygen level during surgery or failing to order replacement fluids or medication to correct a dangerous condition
- Injuring an artery, nerve, vein, or perforating a bowel, kidney, bladder, or other organ
- Laparoscopic surgery, minimally invasive procedures
- Failure to perform a cesarean section in a timely manner
- Failure to provide adequate post-operative care
If you or someone you love has suffered a serious injury during or shortly following surgery, the Pittsburgh medical malpractice law firm of Rosen Louik & Perry, P.C. stands ready to investigate the case, discover what happened, and tell you whether a surgical error contributed to your injury or your loved one's injury. If you would like one of our medical malpractice attorneys to review a case involving surgical error, call 800.440.5297 or e-mail our Pittsburgh office to arrange a free consultation and case evaluation.
Rosen Louik & Perry, P.C., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyers
