Surgical errors are common reasons for a medical malpractice case. Patients who are victims of surgical errors often suffer significant harm and may sustain permanent impairments. Some surgical errors result in wrongful death.
Our Boston surgical errors lawyers at Sweeney Merrigan Law, LLP have over 100 years of combined experience representing individuals and families who have been injured because of negligence and medical errors.
Contact our law firm in Boston, MA, at (774)-341-5778 for a free consultation with a Boston personal injury attorney.
How Our Boston Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help if You’ve Been Injured Because of Surgical Errors
The Boston, MA legal team of Sweeney Merrigan Law, LLP fights to get our clients fair compensation when another party injures them. We believe that every victim deserves to be fully compensated for their pain and suffering and the financial losses caused by an injury or accident.
Over the past decade, our Boston personal injury lawyers have recovered multi-million dollar awards for numerous clients. We strive to achieve the best possible outcome in each case.
When you hire our legal team, you can expect us to:
- Conduct thorough and comprehensive investigations
- Handle all communications with insurance companies and other parties
- File insurance claims and monitor deadlines for filing personal injury lawsuits
- Aggressively negotiate for the maximum compensation available in your case
- Provide updates and answer questions about your case
When you need a trusted Boston, Massachusetts medical malpractice attorney, you can count on us to provide exceptional legal services with compassion and understanding.
Call our office now to schedule your free consultation with a Boston medical malpractice lawyer.
How Common Are Surgical Errors?
Surgical errors are one of the most common causes of hospital medical malpractice claims. More than 400,000 patients sustain harm because of surgical mistakes and errors each year. Over 4,000 surgical errors are reported every year in the United States. Most of those errors are preventable.
Overview of Surgical Errors
Medical professionals, including surgeons, have a duty of care to perform services that meet or exceed the acceptable standard of care in their respective medical communities. When a surgeon breaches the duty of care by making a surgical error, the surgeon may be liable for committing medical malpractice.
What Are Common Causes of Surgical Errors?
There are many reasons why surgical errors occur. Most of the errors that occur during surgery are due to negligence and other mistakes.
Examples of reasons why surgeons make mistakes include:
- Failure to perform required diagnostic tests before surgery
- Failing to obtain and review the patient’s medical history
- WSPEs – Performing surgery on the wrong site, operating on the wrong patient, or performing the wrong surgical procedure
- Rushing to complete a surgical procedure
- Failing to monitor patients during and after surgery
- Failing to account for all surgical equipment and supplies before closing the site
- Distractions during surgery
- Miscommunication or a lack of communication between the surgeon and other members of the medical staff
- Lack of experience or training
- Working while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Lack of standardized procedures, rules, or safety regulations
When a surgeon makes a mistake, the patient can suffer irreparable harm. The injuries caused by surgical errors may result in lifelong pain and decreased quality of life.
Common Types of Injuries Caused by Surgical Errors
The injuries caused by surgical errors depend on the surgery being performed and the surgeon’s mistake.
The injuries can range from minor problems to life-threatening conditions.
Some of the common injuries caused by surgical errors include:
- Infections
- Brain damage
- Loss of limbs or amputations
- Spinal cord injuries
- Paralysis
- Loss of bodily functions
- Nerve damage and soft tissue injuries
- Permanent damage to internal organs
- Strokes and heart attacks
Immediate medical treatment is crucial when a surgeon makes a mistake. A delay in medical treatment could result in permanent impairments or death. If a surgeon tries to cover up a mistake, the surgical error could cause catastrophic injuries that are irreversible.
Consequences of Surgical Errors
Many would assume that with modernized medicine and the advanced technology available to surgeons that there would not be as many surgical errors that occur. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Surgical errors are much more common than one would hope. When a surgical error occurs, the consequences can be catastrophic for the patients that are the victims of their surgeon’s negligent acts. Victims often suffer a wide range of injuries ranging in severity with some even being fatal.
Surgical errors are one of the leading reasons that a person may file a medical malpractice claim in the United States. When a doctor has made a surgical error that has resulted in the injury or death of a patient, there are severe consequences they may face if the patient chooses to file a medical malpractice claim. The victim of a surgical error may pursue compensation for the following:
Medical Expenses
As a result of suffering severe injuries from surgical errors, the victim will likely incur costly medical bills in addition to the cost of the original surgery. In this case, you should be compensated for any resulting medical bills to help you heal from your injuries.
Wrongful Death
In the most severe cases of surgical errors, the resulting injuries may be fatal for the victim. If you have lost a family member as a result of a surgeon’s negligence, you deserve justice for your immense loss. While no amount of money could make up for the loss of your loved one, you are owed compensation.
After suffering from a surgical error at the hands of the surgeon and medical team you trusted, you may be feeling helpless as you try to heal from the injuries you suffered as a result. In an attempt to help you find some peace and justice from the ordeal, filing a medical malpractice claim is a legal remedy that may provide you with the closure you deserve. However, filing a medical malpractice claim is not a simple task. In Boston, Massachuessetts, doctors and medical professionals are well protected by the law. To get help with the complicated medical malpractice claim process, our experienced legal team of surgical errors lawyers may be able to help.
Who is Liable for Surgical Errors?
Medical malpractice claims rely on proving that the surgeon breached the duty of care they owed to their patient.
An attorney proves this by showing the surgeon provided services that deviated from the standard of care acceptable in their medical community.
The injury must be a direct and proximate cause of the breach of duty, and the patient must have suffered damages because of the doctor’s actions. Damages in a case involving surgical errors could include:
- The cost of treatment for the injuries or harm caused by the errors
- Loss of income and benefits if the person cannot work
- Permanent impairments and disabilities caused by the surgical errors
- Pain and suffering damages, including decreases in quality of life, physical pain, emotional distress, and mental trauma
Medical malpractice claims require medical experts to review the circumstances, establish the acceptable standard of care for the situation, and determine whether the surgeon deviated from the standard of care. They are complicated personal injury cases that require the assistance of experienced Boston medical malpractice attorneys.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Boston Surgical Errors Lawyers
Get help from an experienced medical malpractice lawyer near you. The Massachusetts statute of limitations gives medical malpractice victims only three years to file their medical malpractice lawsuit. Contact our office to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case with a personal injury attorney.
