Surgical Mistakes

Ohio Medical Malpractice Attorneys Representing Victims of Surgical Mistakes

When the need for a surgical procedure arises, we expect the surgeon and his medical team to be skilled and careful enough to perform the procedure without surgical mistakes. Hundreds of thousands of surgical procedures are performed without any problems every year. Unfortunately, surgeons can and do make mistakes. Many things can go wrong before, during and/or after a surgical procedure.

Although most surgeries carry some risk of blood clots, anesthesia reactions and cardiovascular complications, thousands of people suffer in this country as a result of surgical negligence. Surgical mistakes can result in long hospitalizations, additional medical expenses, permanent injuries and, for as many as 98,000 Americans every year, death.

Surgical mistakes can be committed by surgeons, anesthesiologists, surgical staff or hospital nursing personnel. When a surgical injury is the result of negligence of a medical provider, the patient may have a medical malpractice claim.

Common surgical mistakes include:

• Organ perforation, puncture or laceration. Unintentional perforations, punctures or cuts of organ tissues can cause serious injury. In addition, scalpels can nick or cut tendons, nerves or blood vessels resulting in permanent loss of function and/or dangerous bleeding.
• Surgical instruments or sponges left inside the patient’s body may cause infection, pain, internal bleeding, and nerve damage. Gauze, clamps, retractors and sponges are the surgical tools most often left inside the patient’s body. Many times, a long period of time can elapse before discovery of the error, which can result in serious complications.
• Unsanitary surgical instruments or unsanitary surgical conditions can cause cross-contamination of disease and life-threatening infections.
• Improper administration and monitoring of anesthesia. Errors involving anesthesia are often life-threatening and can cause asphyxia, permanent brain damage, comas and death.
• Inappropriate post-operative care, including post-surgical infections and improper post-surgical care. Medical staff has the responsibility to monitor patients for signs of infection, hemorrhage, embolisms, blood clots, and respiratory and cardiac distress. Substandard post-operative care can result in serious infections, septic shock, longer healing, delayed recovery and even death.

Other less common serious mistakes include:

• Wrong site surgery. As incredible as it may sound, between 60 and 70 cases are reported every year in which the surgeon performs a surgical procedure on the wrong part of the body.
• Wrong surgical procedure
• Wrong patient

Even though surgical mistakes can occur during any type of procedure, laparoscopic procedures, obstetric procedures, gastric bypass surgery and cosmetic surgery carry increased risks of surgical negligence.