Surgeries are performed every day, however, no operation is the same. While surgeons may be properly equipped to handle the complexities of surgery, errors can and do still happen. When surgical errors occur, patients can be harmed. Surgical injuries can have a substantial physical, financial, and emotional impact on a victim and their families. Victims of medical malpractice surgical errors should be knowledgeable of how their injury occurred and how they can effectively fight for available damages. 

Categories and Causes of Surgical Errors

Every surgery will have unique characteristics and challenges, however, some mistakes can lead to lasting patient harm. Some of the most significant errors include operating on an incorrect body part, operating on the wrong patient, leaving a piece of equipment inside a patient’s body, and administering the wrong amount of medication.  

Understanding why and how the error was made is usually much more difficult, however, the errors are often associated with these themes:

Negligent health care can result in severe patient harm. Medical errors such as misdiagnosis, surgical errors, defective medical equipment, and inaccurate prescriptions can leave patients in critical condition and possibly lead to fatalities. For a medical malpractice victim to successfully recover damages, there are many standards that must be met. A medical malpractice lawsuit must be filed before the statute of limitations expires. If you believe you sustained injuries due to a health care provider’s actions or inaction, it is recommended to immediately contact a medical malpractice attorney who can help you to understand the expectations and limitations often seen in these situations. 

The Statute of Limitations Explained

As with almost all legal actions, the law imposes a time constraint on the duration of time someone is allowed to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit. Once the statute of limitations expires, the injured person may be barred from filing a lawsuit.

Many factors are taken into consideration when determining when the statute of limitations begins, including when the malpractice occurred, when the victim sustained their injury, when the victim became aware of their injury; and when the victim completed their treatment. The date the victim discovered their injury is essential to their case and should be thoroughly documented. A medical malpractice attorney can provide assistance with this process.

Everyday people trust their physicians to provide them with proper medication, high-quality referrals, and accurate diagnoses. Unfortunately, medical professionals, including doctors, make mistakes, which can result in harmful consequences. When negligent behavior leads to a patient’s misdiagnosis that causes the patient harm, the patient may pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit. 

Causes and Consequences of a Misdiagnosis

A misdiagnosis from a medical professional can negatively impact someone’s health and ability to work. Non-existent, delayed, or inconclusive diagnoses often result in incorrect or delayed treatment, if there is any treatment at all. These improper or insufficient treatments have the potential to worsen the actual issues. If this misdiagnosis was caused by physician negligence, the misdiagnosis may lead to a malpractice claim. 

Obviously, human error plays a large role in misdiagnosing patients, however, there are numerous other factors that could lead to an erroneous diagnosis, some of which include:

 Strokes are a biological event most often associated with older individuals who struggle with conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease. When the brain seizes to receive proper blood flow, a stroke can occur. Though less common, children can also suffer from strokes. Both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes are seen in cases with infant children, most often occurring during or shortly after labor. While it is often difficult to identify a fetal stroke’s cause, there may be signs that indicate that the stroke was preventable. It is possible that your infant’s stroke may have been prevented had you and your child received better medical care. 

Causes, Types, and Symptoms of Fetal Strokes

Fetal strokes occur when the infant’s brain is deprived of oxygen. Oxygen deprivation occurs due to clots reducing the flow of oxygenated blood or a hemorrhage disrupting normal blood circulation. Infant strokes tend to occur between the 28th week of pregnancy and one month after the child’s birth. Due to a lack of air in the birth canal, the strokes most often occur during or immediately after the delivery process. 

The most common type of stroke seen among infants is an ischemic stroke. Along with lacking oxygen at birth, other possible causes of an ischemic stroke include a heart defect present at birth, blood disorders, injured arteries, and dehydration. Though it is less common, newborns may also suffer a hemorrhagic stroke. Hemorrhagic strokes are often linked to damaged blood vessels due to head injuries, aneurysms, and blood clotting diseases.

Providing medical care and treatment to a patient in need is a task that requires not only extensive knowledge and skills, but also attention to detail. Even minor deviations from a patient’s treatment plan can cause serious harm. When those deviations result from negligence on the part of a treatment provider, the patient can claim medical malpractice and pursue damages from the at-fault party. One common form of medical negligence is an error related to the patient’s medication.

Negligent Parties in a Medical Malpractice Claim

Depending on the situation, many different parties may be responsible for ensuring that a patient gets the appropriate medication for their condition. An error by any of these parties could be grounds for a medical malpractice claim. Some potentially negligent parties include:

• A doctor who prescribes the medication - There are many opportunities for error when writing a prescription. For example, a doctor could prescribe the wrong dosage or the wrong medication altogether, perhaps due to a misdiagnosis or a careless mistake.

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