Orlando Surgical Malpractice Lawyer

If you’re facing surgery, you want the best possible surgeon performing the job. An error during the procedure can be catastrophic, causing serious injury, pain, and in certain dire instances, even death. Although most surgeons are well-trained and competent to perform surgery on their patients, this isn’t always the case.

Medical surgeries can be extremely difficult, and the process of investigating errors to prove medical malpractice is lengthy and time-consuming. Don’t wait. Seek legal guidance from an Orlando surgical malpractice lawyer or Fort Lauderdale surgical malpractice lawyer at Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm, P.A. today to discuss your options.

Common Surgical Errors

A surgical error is an unintentional, preventable injury occurring during the perioperative period that is not considered a known acceptable risk of surgery and could have been avoided by following appropriate procedure-specific protocols, proper training, or better communication. Medical errors, including surgical errors, are a common cause of medical malpractice lawsuits. Below are some of the major errors that can occur:

Retained Foreign Bodies

Retained Foreign Bodies, also known as RFB, occur when a surgeon or the operating team leaves a foreign object inside the body. This could be sponges, metal instruments, or comparable items. The patient may feel pain right away or not for months or years. The RFB can cause inflammation, sepsis, or other acute problems. NIH’s National Library of Medicine estimates that “With more than 28 million operations performed nationwide, the number of cases in which foreign bodies are left behind during a procedure in the United States has been estimated at around 1500 cases per year.”

Wrong Site Surgery

Wrong site surgery occurs when a surgeon operates on the wrong part of the body or performs surgery on one patient that should have been performed on another patient. Generally, wrong site surgery is caused by poor communication among the operating team and a failure of a formal system to verify that the patient and the site are correct.

Infections

Failure to properly sterilize the operating room and medical instruments and equipment may result in infections that seriously impact patients with compromised immune systems.

Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia errors, such as giving the patient too much anesthesia or the wrong kind of anesthesia, can cause injury or death. It’s important for the anesthesiologist to monitor the patient’s blood pressure, oxygen level, and other vital statistics to ensure that the proper level of anesthesia is being administered.

Damages to Nerves and Internal Organs

Nerves and internal organs can be damaged by surgical instruments with long-term or permanent damage.

Oxygen Deprivation and Nerve Injury

A doctor’s error in administering anesthesia can cause the patient to suffer respiratory distress, oxygen deprivation, and brain damage. Also, improper surgical technique or the failure to take precautions may lead to avoidable nerve injury.

All patients must sign consent forms before surgical procedures stating that the patient is aware of the known risks and complications that may result. However, a patient cannot consent to negligence, and a physician or nurse should not be allowed to escape responsibility through a form signed by a patient.

Surgical errors can potentially result in the following:

• Infections
• Perforations
• Post-operative complications
• Significant bleeding
• Anesthesia complications
• Paralysis
• Pulmonary embolism
• Additional surgeries
• Prolonged recovery time
• Nicking or cutting vital organs
• Spinal cord surgery
• Wrong site surgery
• Death
• Causes of Surgical Errors

Many factors cause or contribute to surgical errors. It’s important to note that surgery is dynamic, with many things happening at once. Surgery requires a high level of technical skill by the surgeon, nurses, and other medical professionals in the operating room; good communication among team members; and skilled decision-making.

In some cases, surgical errors can be linked to a deviation from an established protocol, which are principles to be followed, such as counting the number of sponges or instruments to ensure none are left inside the patient’s body.

Miscommunication can be a cause of surgical errors. For example, if the hospital has mixed up a patient’s chart with that of another patient’s, the wrong site, wrong procedure, or wrong patient surgery can occur. In some instances, surgical errors can be the result of the surgeon and team not having performed the procedure frequently.

Surgical errors can also be the result of personal factors related to the surgeon and surgical team, such as stress, lack of sleep, or other personal or professional pressures.

Insufficient training is another cause of surgical errors. Inadequate training can include medical professionals’ lack of training in surgical techniques or inadequate training on the use of machines and equipment in the operating room.

Anesthesia errors are specific types of surgical errors that can cause severe problems for the patient. These errors can include improper intubation, which can affect proper patient breathing; prolonged sedation, which can result in respiratory depression and decreased oxidation; and administering too much anesthesia, which can cause brain damage or death.

Medical professionals should consider the following patient care practices to avoid surgical errors and postoperative decline in condition including:

• Counting surgical instruments and sponges used during operations
• Avoiding improper placement of foreign objects
• Completing checklists
• Closely monitoring vital signs
• Ensuring qualified personnel are involved in patient care
• Proper adjustment in anesthesia dosages during surgery
• Proper monitoring during and after surgery

To prove medical negligence in the state of Florida, an attorney will need to show:

• The doctor had a duty of care to the patient
• This duty was breached through negligence, which is generally demonstrated by showing the doctor did not meet the generally recognized standard of care
• The patient suffered an injury due to the breach
• The patient’s injury is compensable
• Patients who have suffered injury due to a medical error could be entitled to compensation. Compensation could range from economic damages, which include medical costs, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket costs; non-economic damages, which include compensation for pain, suffering, and emotional distress; and/or punitive damages in particularly egregious cases.

In most cases, an individual must bring a lawsuit for medical negligence within two years of when the injury occurred, or when the patient should reasonably have discovered the injury.

Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm has decades of experience working on cases involving surgical mistakes. Contact the firm if you believe you or someone you love has suffered a serious injury as a result of a surgical error.

Legal Claims Following Surgical Mistakes

Doctors are human and are subject to making human errors like all of us. They can be overworked and not in top mental or physical condition when operating. If you have a valid claim, you must establish that the doctor owed a duty of care to you and breached that duty by failing to meet the proper standard of care. Consider this: What would a skilled surgeon have done under similar circumstances? You must demonstrate that and then prove that your doctor failed to meet that standard of care. Finally, it must be shown that the doctor’s negligence caused you actual harm and compensable damages.

A surgical mistake can be extremely costly — in fact, it can bankrupt you and your family. You may be required to take off an extensive amount of time at work or even quit your job if you are no longer capable of performing required work tasks. Sometimes, your physical health may not be the same as it was before the surgical error, and you may never fully recover.

Sometimes, the patient dies as a result of surgical negligence. In these cases, the surviving family members can file a wrongful death lawsuit.

Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is a legal remedy that seeks to make patients whole, but it’s a long and complex process, so it’s best to discuss potential surgery negligence with an experienced medical malpractice attorney.

How Long Do You Have to Sue?

Currently, Florida has a two-year statute of limitations period to bring a medical malpractice lawsuit. The rules are more complicated than this, however, and depend upon such specific facts as when you discovered the malpractice.

You may be entitled to compensation if you believe you can prove that:

• The medical provider did not meet the standard of care required by comparable healthcare practitioners;
• The failure to meet the standard of care caused your or your loved one’s injuries; and
• The injuries are compensable, meaning you are entitled to damages.

What Damages Can You Obtain for Medical Malpractice?

In Florida, patients who are injured by the negligence of their medical professional may be entitled to economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive damages.

Economic damages include medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses such as rehabilitation and durable medical equipment purchases or rentals such as wheelchairs, crutches, and hospital beds. Economic damages also include loss of or reduction in income if you cannot work due to the conditions caused by the surgical error or lack of post-operative monitoring.

Non-economic damages include pain and suffering, loss of consortium, emotional distress, depression, and similar damages. Currently, in most cases, there are no limitations on the recovery of these damages.

Florida law may permit punitive damages in medical malpractice cases, including surgery or improper monitoring cases, if the facts support a finding that the doctor’s behavior was especially egregious. Punitive damages are exceedingly hard to obtain in Florida and require proof of intentional misconduct or gross negligence, a very hard standard of proof. The rare cases where punitive damages might be found to apply would be:

• Where the doctor was impaired by drugs or alcohol
• Surgical events that should never occur under any circumstances, such as operating on or amputating the wrong body part
• Criminal events by the doctor, such as physical or sexual assault on the patient

Let an experienced Orlando surgical malpractice lawyer or Fort Lauderdale surgical malpractice lawyer at Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm, P.A. help you gain compensation for your injuries.

Contact a Skilled Orlando Surgical Malpractice Lawyer at Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm, P.A. Today

If you or someone you love has been harmed during surgery due to a medical professional’s mistake, help is available to you and your family. Contact a knowledgeable Orlando Surgical Malpractice Lawyer or Fort Lauderdale surgical malpractice lawyer at Haliczer Pettis & Schwamm, P.A. as soon as possible to find out more about your rights and options under the law.