What to Do If Your Doctor Makes a Surgical Error

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Within the last 20 years, an estimated 80,000 “never events,” or surgical errors that should not have happened during surgery, occurred in United States Hospitals, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.

Common examples of surgical errors include:

• Removal of the wrong body part
• Leaving a surgical instrument or another foreign object inside the patient
• Performing the wrong surgery or performing surgery on the wrong patient
• Accidentally cutting or tearing an organ

Surgical errors may be the result of a breakdown in communication between the doctor and his/her surgical staff, surgeon fatigue or an accidental movement during surgery.

Surgical mistakes can lead to infections, additional surgeries or even death, if the mistake is not discovered in time.

If you suspect that a surgical error occurred during your procedure, report any symptoms to your doctor or healthcare provider immediately. If the hospital is aware that a surgical error happened during your procedure, you may receive an adverse event letter from the hospital.

If you receive an adverse event letter from a hospital, you may want to consider seeking legal advice from a medical malpractice lawyer in addition to seeking medical advice from your physician.

Surgical errors are not intentional, but they are the result of doctor or hospital negligence. You should not have to suffer because of surgical mistakes caused by a doctor or healthcare provider. If you suffered a serious injury or complications or required a revision surgery as a result of a surgical error, contact a medical malpractice lawyer about your compensation options.