Every surgery comes with risks. No matter how major or minor a procedure is, a careless mistake could cost you your health and even your life. As a patient, you are entitled to expect a certain standard of care from healthcare practitioners, especially doctors, during risky procedures like surgeries.
If you think that your healthcare providers have shirked their duties in offering you the highest standard of care, we at Dezao Law can help you build a case for medical malpractice.
The Most Common Surgical Errors You Must Know
Surgical errors are defined as preventable mistakes during surgeries. These go beyond the known risks of surgery that patients consent to before their procedures. Some of the top surgical errors that lead to medical malpractice are:
Wrong Site Surgery
This refers to surgical procedures performed on the wrong body part or organ. You might think that this doesn’t often happen, but there are a fair number of cases where patients have had the wrong limb removed or amputated.
If your healthcare providers performed surgery on the wrong body part or organ, you have a right to file a medical malpractice suit.
Leaving Surgical Instruments in the Body
This careless mistake has happened to more people than you think. In fact, to prevent this surgical error, hospitals require healthcare providers to count all medical instruments used before and after their procedures.
Leaving surgical instruments in the body can cause grave complications. Infections, punctured organs, and even death are some of the risks that come with this blunder.
Administering Known Allergens to Patients
Healthcare practitioners need to always take note of their patients’ known allergens. Allergic reactions can be severe, especially when those are administered to patients when they’re most vulnerable. If a patient has already declared the allergen and the healthcare practitioner still knowingly or accidentally administers those through drugs, anesthetics, and the like, it can be grounds for a malpractice suit.
Performing the Surgery on the Wrong Patient
Healthcare practitioners work under an incredible amount of stress, but that does not excuse them from performing surgeries on patients that do not need those procedures. Miscommunication, lack of organization, and fatigue all factor in to accidentally performing surgery on the wrong patient.
If you have been operated on by mistake, you are entitled to seek damages from your healthcare practitioners by way of medical malpractice suits.
Undue Damage to Internal Organs
Surgeries require precision and accuracy. Surgeons should only deal with organs that require their care and leave other organs and tissue untouched. However, there are cases when neighboring organs to the surgical site become punctured or perforated by accident. If your surgeon knowingly or accidentally damaged your other organs during a surgery for another organ, you have grounds to file a medical malpractice suit.
Get Experienced Medical Malpractice in New Jersey to Guide You
Dezao Law believes that all healthcare practitioners must be cognizant of their duty to their patients, especially during risky procedures like surgeries. If you have been a victim of any of the surgical errors above, we will gladly help you get the damages you deserve.
Do not let health practitioners get away with carelessness and neglect! Call Us at (973) 358-6134 and we will help you hold them accountable for their mistakes.