Surgical Errors May Be More Common Than You Think

Getting surgery is already foreboding enough. The thought that a surgeon or other medical professional could make a dangerous or even deadly mistake during surgery is especially frightening. Unfortunately, surgical mistakes do happen. When a person is injured because a negligent surgeon or other medical staff member makes an avoidable mistake, the injured person may be left with devastating and often painful consequences. Some surgical errors result in the death of the patient. When medical malpractice results in a patients’ death, the surviving family of the deceased person may choose to bring a wrongful death lawsuit against the practitioner or facility.

Surgical Mistakes Happen at Alarming Frequency

Studies have shown that outrageous surgical mistakes are made at very disturbingly high rates. One study showed that in an average week in the United States, surgeons:

• Perform the wrong surgical procedure on a patient 20 times.
• Leave an object such as a towel, surgical sponge, or medical tool inside of a patient’s body 39 times.
• Operate on the wrong part of the body 20 times.

On average, over 4,000 preventable errors happen during surgery every year in the U.S. These mistakes result in more than one billion dollars in medical malpractice payouts to the injured patients or families of deceased patients. Other common surgical errors which can be detrimental to a patient’s health include incorrect operating plans or techniques, anesthesia errors, post-surgical infections, and c-section mistakes that lead to birth injuries. A victim of a major surgical error could be left with loss of the use of his or her limbs, brain damage, serious infections, and severe pain and suffering.

Damages in a Medical Malpractice Case

The economic and noneconomic consequences of medical malpractice are called damages. Economic damages are the damages which are quantifiable. These can include the costs of corrective surgery to fix the mistake made by the original surgeon, additional hospital bills incurred by the harm to the patient’s body, prescription medication costs, and other medical expenses caused by the error. Damages can also include lost income and reduced earning capacity. Noneconomic damages are those damages which are not easily quantifiable, but still caused harm to the patient. These include things like the patient’s pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life. In a wrongful death case, a family may receive compensation for the loss of consortium, funeral and burial costs, and more.

Contact a Winnebago County Surgical Errors Lawyer

At Mannarino & Brasfield, A Division of KJS, we know just how devastating a serious surgical error can be. We are committed to helping victims of medical malpractice hold negligent practitioners accountable for the harm they have caused and getting the victims the compensation they deserve. To schedule a free consultation with a highly experienced Rockford medical malpractice attorney, call our office at 815-215-7561 today.

Source:

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20121220/thousands-mistakes-surgery#1