Did you know that doctors in the United States make roughly 4,000 preventable surgical errors a year? Surgical errors are a huge problem in our country right now, costing the medical industry around $1.3 billion dollars in compensation for these problems each year. But what exactly are these surgical errors? Here are the top three surgical errors that tend to lead to wrongful death.
Leaving Objects in a Patient’s Body
As strange as it sounds, this happens more often than you might think. When surgeons are working on complicated surgeries, it is possible for them to forget to take a cloth or clamp out of the patient’s body before closing up. Though these cases often times result in infections and a possible second surgery, they don’t typically end in death. It is important to contact a personal injury lawyer if you or a loved one has been involved in a case like this.
Performing the Wrong Surgery
Again, this one may sound strange. You go in expecting to have a simple surgery done but leave not only with a different surgery completed, but the surgery you actually needed not done. This can cause a lot of damage and can even lead to death. Be sure to contact a personal injury lawyer, or a wrongful death lawyer if your loved one has passed away from this. These lawyers will make sure you are getting represented the right way in court.
Administering Too Much Anesthesia
As scary as it is, this too happens more frequently than we would like. Anesthesia is the drug that helps you sleep while you are being operated on. As helpful and amazing as this drug is, it can also be fatal. Even administering just a little bit more than needed can cause some serious side effects. To administer anesthesia, you have to have to get around 12 years of schooling and residency years combined. You would think with all that practice these incidents wouldn’t happen, but they still do. Again, if you are involved in a case where a doctor gave you too much, or maybe even not enough anesthesia, contact a personal injury lawyer for help immediately.
Surgical errors can be classified as medical malpractice, read more about medical malpractice here. Accidents happen, even in surgeries. Even though they may have been honest mistakes, you shouldn’t be suffering without any kind of compensation. Personal injury lawyers are experts at dealing with these cases. They will work to make sure you are compensated and represented fairly. If you think you or a loved one have been involved in a case like one above, or any other that you believe may be a personal injury case, contact a personal injury lawyer at Robert J. DeBry today.