Many people throughout Mississippi place their faith in surgical teams and hospitals on a daily basis. Surgical patients presume that their surgeon and the rest of their medical team will exercise a high level of skill and expertise. However, surgical mistakes and infections are much more common than most surgical patients realize. Although there have been focused efforts to reduce the number of surgical errors in recent years, surgical mistakes and infections in and out of the operating room remain a serious problem. According to the Archives of Surgery, there are 5 to 10 surgical errors throughout the United States every day.
When you or someone you love is the victim of a surgical error or surgical infection, the surgical mistake can have a devastating impact on the quality of your life. Serious medical errors can result in permanent debilitating injuries or even wrongful death. At Barrett Law, our experienced Mississippi medical malpractice attorneys understand the potentially devastating impact of suffering a serious injury caused by surgical errors and provide innovative litigation strategies and persuasive courtroom advocacy on behalf of the victims of negligent surgical procedures. If the surgeon or other member of the surgical team causes your injury because of medical negligence, you may have a right to seek compensation for your injuries.
Because there are usually multiple members of the surgical team, there are many types of negligent conduct that may be the basis for medical malpractice claims during a surgical procedure. Some of the most common types of surgical mistakes include the following:
- Anesthesia Mistakes: Most surgical procedures require some form of anesthesia. When general anesthesia is used, the process of administering anesthesia can be the most dangerous aspect of a surgical procedure. An anesthesiologist is charged with carefully monitoring a patient to ensure that the patient is not given too much or insufficient anesthesia.
- Wrong Site/Patient Surgery: This occurs when surgery is performed on the wrong part of the body or the wrong patient. This type of error is not nearly as rare as many might presume with recent industry data indicating that this type of error accounts for 13 percent of all medical mistakes.
- Improper Delegation: When a surgeon assigns or delegates a portion of the surgery to another member of the medical team, the surgeon remains responsible for any surgical errors or mistakes.
- Unnecessary Surgical Procedures: These involve billing and performing surgeries for which there is no legitimate medical basis. An example might include a surgical removal of the colon when there has been no diagnostic result justifying such a procedure.
- Lack of Prompt Recognition of Errors: Although any surgical mistake poses potential dangers to the patient, sometimes promptly addresses the mistake can prevent or mitigate any serious damage. When the surgeon fails to promptly identify and correct the mistake, this failure can result in even more serious injuries.
- Substandard Medical Techniques: This may involve inadvertently severing an artery or leaving behind a sponge when closing up a surgical incision.
- Surgical Infection: When a sponge or other items is left in the body following a surgical procedure or a surgical incision site is not treated properly, it can result in potentially fatal infection.
- Failure to Perform Surgery: Surgery often is essential to treat a particular medical condition but attending nurses will fail to let the surgeon know about critical changes in a patient’s condition, or the surgeon is unavailable when summoned to perform the surgery.
When you need a surgical procedure, you must rely on the professional skill and expertise of your surgeon and surgical team. Sometimes surgical mistakes are a product of the failure of members of the surgical team to communicate effectively in the operating room. The surgeon sets the tone for communication in an operating room and is responsible for promoting open communication that reduces the likelihood of surgical mistakes. When a surgical team makes a critical mistake like amputating the wrong limb or subjecting you to an unnecessary surgery, it can mean excruciating unnecessary pain, revisionary surgery, disability from employment and impairment of a patient’s enjoyment of life along with other potential costs.
If you or your loved one suffers serious injury or a close family member dies because of a surgical errors, you may be entitled to the compensation necessary to move past your injuries. At Barrett Law, our experienced Mississippi personal injury lawyers represent injury victims throughout Mississippi. Our law firm has roots that reach back 75 years so contact us today for your free initial consultation at (662) 834-2376 to see how we can help.