Philadelphia Surgical Error Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Surgical errors are also referred to as preventable surgery errors because they should never happen. Some examples of surgical errors, or surgical negligence, may involve amputating the wrong limb, operating on the wrong site, or the wrong body part, leaving instruments in the body, birth injuries and errors administering anesthetic. Any such mishaps violate Pennsylvania’s medical malpractice laws, and you have the legal right to seek compensation for damages.
In medical malpractice cases, a surgical error must be proven by the plaintiff for most issues. For this reason, it is a good idea to seek the legal counsel of a surgical error medical malpractice attorney at MyPhillyLawyer.
What Is Surgical Error Medical Malpractice
In Pennsylvania, surgical medical malpractice happens when a medical professional commits medical negligence during surgery by making a questionable decision and/or violating the accepted standard of care adhered to by other medical professionals in the same field.
The negligence in question must have caused the patient’s injuries, and it resulted from the medical professional’s omissions in care. There must be a cause and effect relationship between the alleged negligence and the harm sustained to file a surgical error medical malpractice lawsuit. Medical mistakes, such as surgical errors, kill almost 100,000 people each year.
Serious hospital events are under-reported in Pennsylvania. Most patients involved in such an event do not sue. However, those who choose to pursue compensation would benefit significantly by being represented by an experienced MyPhillyLawyer surgical error medical malpractice lawyer.
Common surgical errors include:
- Surgical instruments left in the body
- Wrong-site surgery – operating on a wrist instead of an ankle
- Internal organs injured during surgery
- Nerve damage resulting from a surgical or anaesthesia error
- Errors in medication such as labeling, wrong dose, wrong patient
- Failing to treat a patient indicating problems via vital signs
- Incorrect procedure – such as removing the wrong body part
- Wrong patient surgery – surgery for patient A performed on Patient B
- Using unsanitary instruments
- Surgery performed unrelated to a patient’s diagnosis
- Surgery performed based on an incorrect diagnosis
- Spinal cord damage during back surgery
Given how highly trained surgeons are, it is confusing and disturbing to know that surgical errors happen. How could they make mistakes when a person’s life is in the balance? Surgical errors most often occur due to a lack of surgical technical competence, inexperience in a particular surgical procedure, a misunderstanding between the surgeon and other personnel, fatigue, performing surgery they do not specialize in, distractions during surgery, performing surgery that is not necessary, doing an operation to make money, or to test a product or medical device.
In Pennsylvania, the statute of limitations for filing a surgical error medical malpractice lawsuit is two years from the injury date. The State also has a discovery rule where the statute of limitations runs when a person knew or should have known about the relationship between their injuries and medical care received.
The rules regarding filing a surgical error medical malpractice lawsuit in Pennsylvania are very complex. While some cases may take a short time to be resolved, many end up taking months to years to be concluded. At MyPhillyLawyer, we got you covered and work in partnership with you to obtain the compensation that you need and deserve.
