Sacramento Surgical Error Lawyer
Surgical mistakes are preventable adverse events. Unfortunately, these errors cover a wide range of medical malpractice cases that are caused by the negligent actions of medical professionals who are involved in the care of a patient before, during, and after surgery. The involved practitioners may include various medical personnel such as surgeons, members of the surgical team, and post-operative staff.
Surgical mistakes can be detrimental to an individual’s health, even during the process of recovery. Medical malpractice in Sacramento is not an uncommon event, and unfortunately, many families and loved ones have fallen victim to injuries caused at the hands of a medical professional. If you’ve suffered an injury due to surgical error, it’s important to seek medical malpractice representation early.
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Surgical Mistakes Are a Common Form of Medical Malpractice
Medical professionals go through extensive education. They must adhere to a standard of care that protects your health and safety. When they breach that standard of care, the mistakes they make can cause you lasting pain, and sometimes even death. The Eric Ratinoff Law Corp. legal team has extensive experience reviewing cases involving surgical mistakes and efficiently establishing whether medical malpractice caused your injuries.
Surgical mistakes and medical errors include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Unnecessary surgery
- Misdiagnosis
- Wrong procedure
- Wrong surgical site
- Mistaken patient identity
- Surgical tools or objects left inside of the patient’s body
- The improper or faulty performance or execution of surgery
- Lack of medical action
- Failure to complete patient records or review patient records
- Treatment or techniques implemented which are not accepted by the larger medical community to treat a patient’s particular condition
- Failure to provide necessary medication
- Improper or lack of after-care instructions
A study conducted on patient safety has estimated that more than 4,000 patients in the U.S. are subjected to preventable adverse surgical events yearly. These surgical mistakes can result in new health complications, worsening of current medical conditions, serious injuries, and death. Examples of the consequences of these devastating medical oversights include:
Surgical Injuries to Internal Organs
During surgery, injuries to internal organs may occur when they are perforated by a surgical tool or deprived of adequate oxygen or blood flow. Organs can be deprived of oxygen and blood flow due to a variety of reasons, from adverse reactions to medications, anesthesia, stroke, or cardiac arrest.
Internal organ damage may occur when a surgeon is operating and punctures an adjacent organ. Organ perforation is a risk with all surgeries, but when a surgeon is operating without intensive attention to detail and a necessary skill set, they may cause severe damage.
Nerve Damage from Surgery
50% of all surgery patients suffer from nerve damage after surgery. Nerve damage may occur because of a reaction to anesthesia, medication, certain positions that compress the nerve during surgery, or damage due to the surgeon’s tools. A patient may be left with lasting nerve damage and associated pain, including:
- Inflammation
- Sensory loss
- Paralysis
- Organ damage
- Motor skill damage
- Emotional distress
- Various psychological conditions like depression
While nerve damage may be unavoidable in some dire surgery cases, you should never have to suffer from surgical nerve damage because of surgeon negligence. Our seasoned surgical mistake lawyers are dedicated to holding medical professionals accountable when they cause avoidable injuries through carelessness.
Surgical Tools Left in the Patient After Surgery
The sponge is the most prominent surgical tool left in a patient after surgery. Other tools, like clamps, retractors, electrodes or drains, can also be found. Every year, about 1,500 surgeries result in foreign bodies left in the patient after the surgery. When a surgical tool is left in the patient, it is vital for the medical professional to identify the problem, order diagnostic tests, and order the removal of the object promptly. The most common place an object may be left inside the body is the pelvis or abdomen, but they also could be found in any surgical site. It is common for surgical tools to migrate through the body and cause even more harm.
Symptoms of surgical tools left in the body may include:
- Abdominal tumors
- Abscess
- Pain
- Bowel obstruction
- Intestinal obstruction or perforation
- Bleeding
- Damage to organs
- Inflammation
- Infection
Symptoms can vary from patient to patient. It may be hard to discern that a tool has been left behind until months or years down the line. Additionally, doctors may also misdiagnose these symptoms for other conditions and treat the wrong illness.
Hemorrhaging During Surgery
Surgical negligence can make the procedure catastrophic. The most common fatality in the operating room is hemorrhaging or continuous bleeding. When this occurs, surgical staff must respond quickly to stop the bleeding before it results in death. If it is not stopped, possibly cardiac arrest, low blood pressure, and low oxygen to the body, brain and complications to the spinal cord may occur. Reasons for hemorrhaging during surgery may include:
- Inappropriate decision-making by the surgeon
- Lack of skill and expertise
- Poor communication
- Failure to recognize bleeding
- Poor use of surgical tools
If you or your loved one experienced a surgical mistake, contact a surgical error lawyer in Sacramento for additional help and legal representation.
What Compensation Can I Recover in a Surgical Mistake Lawsuit?
Depending on your case, compensation in a surgical mistake lawsuit includes both economic and non-economic damages. Unfortunately, in California, non-economic damages—also known as pain and suffering—are capped at $250,000. Non-economic damages compensate you for pain, suffering physical disfigurement, and impairment, and this cap was put in place many years ago when the dollar was worth much more than it is now. Economic damages would cover past and future financial losses you’ve experienced from medical treatment, rehabilitation, and lost wages. They also cover life care plans that involve the expenses needed for medical equipment, any home modifications needed to accommodate disabilities, future medical treatments, and future caregiving expenses, taking into consideration special needs as the victim ages.
In order to prove negligence in a surgical mistake lawsuit, you must provide expert testimony from a medical professional to prove that your surgeon failed to provide a standard duty of care. In California, this is any professional with sufficient knowledge, skill, experience, education, or training on the testimony subject.
Eric Ratinoff’s many years of experience with complex medical cases uniquely equips him to handle difficult medical malpractice cases. He works with highly credible expert witnesses and employs extensive graphic storyboards and videos to prove the cases he takes on.
Contact a Sacramento Surgical Error Attorney
Surgical mistakes are preventable acts of negligence, and the associated injuries can dramatically impact a patient’s state of health, quality of life, and financial circumstances. If you have been terribly injured due to a surgical mistake made because of negligence, you may be able to recover compensation for your post-surgery damages.
