Surgical Errors
Our Experience
Our attorneys and medical professionals at Needham Johnson have many years of experience in evaluating claims involving surgical negligence and surgical errors. We have successfully litigated hundreds of cases for clients who have been injured or lost their lives as a result of surgical negligence or surgical errors. Our doctors and nurse possess the knowledge required to evaluate operative reports and other medical documents to determine if an error was made during surgery, and if the error resulted in a preventable injury or death.
What is a Surgical Error?
According to the Harvard Medical Practice Study, surgical patients accounted for about half of all patients who experienced adverse events during their hospitalizations. Surgical errors are not uncommon, and may include negligence by the surgeon, anesthesiologist, operating room staff or post-operative health care providers. Surgical errors may be as obvious as removing the wrong body part or leaving a surgical instrument inside a patient. Surgical errors also include more obscure events such as omission of antibiotic prophylaxis which leads to infection, nerve damage due to improper surgical positioning, or postoperative hemorrhage that goes unrecognized or untreated.
Examples of Surgical Errors:
- Wrong site surgery
- Wrong patient surgery
- Surgical instruments or sponges left in the body
- Wrong surgery for the patient's diagnosis
- Injury from a planned surgery that is not normally seen with that surgery
- Failure to recognize and treat an intraoperative injury in a timely manner
- Excessive number of procedures done at the same time
- Failure to adequately replace intraoperative blood loss
- Performing surgery in a negligent manner
For additional examples of medical malpractice involving surgical errors that resulted in death, brain damage or catastrophic injury in cases handled by our law firm, please see Our Cases .
If you think you or a loved one has been the victim of a surgical error, contact us today. You may submit your case online, free of charge and with no obligation, through our Contact Form and we will promptly respond to you. If you would prefer to discuss your case with an attorney, doctor, nurse or paramedic, call during usual business hours using the local or toll free phone numbers listed on our Contact Information page.
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