Undergoing surgery is always risky. Things can go wrong for many different reasons. Some reasons are unavoidable but others are preventable and may be directly tied to mistakes that are made due to carelessness or negligence in the operating room. If you’ve been harmed or have suffered due to a surgical mistake you feel was preventable, a Charleston surgical error lawyer can help you find the road to recovery.
Surgeons, like all doctors in West Virginia and throughout the United States, have a legal and professional duty to provide a basic standard of care. This means that surgeons and their fellow surgical team members should do everything they can to avoid making careless or reckless mistakes or decisions that result in harm. If this duty is failed, the guilty party or parties may be able to be held accountable in our civil court system for the harm or injuries that were caused.
This area of law is an area we call medical malpractice law. There are many different types of medical malpractice cases that can occur in hospitals and at doctor’s offices in the U.S., but among the different types, surgical errors are often the most serious. This is due to the innate serious consequences of surgery and all it entails.
West Virginia laws state that when a victim of a surgical mistake files a lawsuit against a surgeon, operating team, or anesthesia team, they may be able to receive financial compensation that can go towards past, present, and future recovery costs, loss of wage costs, and mental suffering costs. In addition, medical malpractice lawsuits help ensure a careless doctor or medical team never makes the same mistake again.
Common Examples of Surgical Mistakes
Surgical errors can occur during literally every single type of surgical procedure that can be performed. Some types of mistakes are more common than others, however. Some common examples include:
- When a doctor fails to perform surgery correctly
- When a surgeon mistakenly causes damage to a nearby healthy organ or tissue when performing surgery
- Unnecessary surgery
- When a surgeon operates on the wrong body part, limb, or organ
- When a medical specialist is found to deviate from an accepted standard of practice in that field of medicine
- When a doctor fails to obtain the informed consent of the patient before performing a procedure or operation
- When a doctor or medical team fails to warn a surgery patient about the risks of a given operation or procedure
- When an anesthesiologist is careless and doesn’t administer enough anesthesia
- When a post-surgical team does not properly monitor a patient coming out of surgery or administers the wrong medication and causes lasting damage
- Cesarean section errors which may cause damage to the mother or birth injuries to the child
- Hospital administration mistakes which cause harm
The above examples can all cause a patient potential irreversible pain and harm. Surgery teams should not get away with making any of the above mistakes.
The Right Charleston Surgical Error Lawyers Can Make the Difference
When we decide to have surgery, we trust our lives in the hands of our surgeons and surgical team. When this trust is shattered and injury or death occurs, it’s time to take matters into your own hands and trust in the U.S. civil justice system to do what’s right.
At DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC, we can pair you with a skilled and knowledgeable West Virginia surgical error attorney who will be happy to tell you the merits of your potential case. We represent medical malpractice victims in Charleston and throughout the entire state of West Virginia. With our help, you can return to the task of living. Contact us today for a free consultation and evaluation of your claim.
