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A Michigan surgical errors lawyer can help if you or someone you care about suffered harm caused by a negligent surgeon. The Buckfire Law Firm files medical malpractice lawsuits that arise from negligence during a surgical procedure.

When you seek any type of medical attention, you expect that the medical professionals you encounter will be knowledgeable, courteous, and well-versed in their particular branch of care. This is not an unreasonable expectation, especially in an operating room. Unfortunately, mistakes and accidents do arise during surgical procedures, which can often lead to severe and even fatal complications for a patient.

This problem is so rampant that the United States Centers for Disease Control now lists medical errors as the third leading cause of death. If you or a loved one suffered a severe injury due to a surgeon’s mistake, call a Michigan surgical errors lawyer to discuss your legal options.

You should not have to shoulder the costs you have incurred due to a medical professional’s carelessness. By working with a dedicated attorney, you will have help understanding your legal options and deciding if pursuing a lawsuit is in your best interests. You may be entitled to sue a surgeon for your injuries and harm.

Common Types of Surgical Mistakes

Because of the delicate and precise nature of most surgical procedures, any errors made by a surgeon could result in severe complications and bodily harm to a patient. Common reasons to sue a surgeon for surgical mistakes include:

  • Performing the wrong procedure or operation
  • Leaving objects such as instruments or sponges in surgical patients
  • Bowel perforations and organ punctures causing leaks
  • Cutting the wrong nerve, artery, vein
  • Operating on the wrong surgical site or the wrong patient
  • Anesthesia errors and mistakes causing harm
  • Failing to timely recognize injuries caused during a surgery
  • Not properly treating and repairing intraoperative mistakes
  • Properly obtain the patient’s informed consent to surgery
  • Properly diagnosing and treating post-operative infections
  • Properly performing post-operative examinations

No matter the medical specialty of a surgeon, they are beholden to certain standards of care owed to each patient they operate on. If they do not comply with this standard of care—by, for example, making a mistake during a procedure—they might be considered negligent and this could give rise to a lawsuit on the basis of malpractice.

However, establishing that a care professional was at fault is a complex and nuanced legal process. A knowledgeable Michigan surgical errors lawyer will investigate the circumstances of their losses and determine if they were caused by a surgeon’s mistakes. If a surgical error resulted in harm, the patient can file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Objects Left in Patients After Surgery

Unfortunately, objects left in patients after surgery is one of the more common errors that arise during procedures throughout the state. When this happens, a victim might suffer severe complications and even have to undergo additional—and otherwise unnecessary—procedures.

While there are no federal reporting requirements when a hospital leaves a surgical object in patients after surgery, some research suggests it happens between 4,500 and 6,000 times a year. Due to the volume of these occurrences, electronic devices started to be attached to sponges in order to track them during a procedure. Unfortunately, even with these devices in circulation, objects left in patients are still a common risk after surgery.

For many hospitals, lost sponges and other surgical items are not considered a pressing concern. Because symptoms often do not occur for months, even years, many of the cases are never tracked back to the institution where they originated. This means the people who are responsible may not realize they have a problem.

Wrong Patient Procedures

Any surgery that is done on the wrong body part, is incorrect in nature, or is performed on the wrong patient can be traumatizing and severe. These errors are often referred to as WSPEs, also known as wrong site, wrong procedure, wrong-patient errors.

A classic case of wrong patient surgery involved a patient who underwent a cardiac procedure intended for another patient with a similar last name. Unfortunately, one of the most devastating types of surgery is when two patients get mixed up due to a negligent medical professional and a patient receives a surgical procedure they should have never gotten in the first place. Some cases are extreme and tragic. No matter how severe the results of a wrong patient surgery, however, a caring surgical errors lawyer could help a victim to seek compensation.

Neurosurgeon Errors

A neurosurgeon must be specially trained and qualified. Because of the high risk of many of their procedures, the professional that a person selects is essential. Specializing in surgeries relating to the spine and brain, a neurosurgeon is tasked with both diagnosing and treating any condition that stems from the brain and any other part of the nervous system. Their field often requires them to give non-operative treatment, as well as surgery to patients ranging from children to adults.

Like any other medical professional, however, neurosurgeons make mistakes. Under these conditions, there is a possibility that a neurosurgeon malpractice lawsuit can be filed.

Surgical Fires in the Operating Room

Surgery fires are much more common than patients are led to believe by hospitals and doctors. In fact, many hospitals do not even provide high-risk patients with information about operating room fires and burn injuries. Surgical fires are fires that occur in the operation on or near a patient who is undergoing a surgical procedure or medical procedure. These fires occur when three elements are present. These elements include an ignition source, a fuel source, and an oxidizer.

Ignition sources include electrosurgical units, lasers, and fiberoptic light sources. Fuel sources include surgical drapes, alcohol-based skin preparation, and even the patient. Oxidizers include oxygen, nitrous oxide, and room air. The FDA has information to the public on surgical fires in the operating room. This includes other factors that also increase the risk of fire. For example, alcohol-based skin preparation agents are very flammable when still wet. The placement of surgical drapes—such as when they are placed in a way that allows oxygen to pool under them—and the handling of ignition sources may also increase the chance that a surgical fire will occur.

Requirements For Filing a Michigan Surgery Malpractice Case

The Complaint is the formal legal pleading filed in every medical malpractice lawsuit. In addition, every medical negligence case must include an affidavit of merit. Under Michigan Compiled Laws § 600.2169, every claim on the basis of malpractice mandates that a qualified healthcare professional sign this affidavit. A qualified healthcare professional is defined by state law as someone who operates or teaches within the same medical specialty as the defendant. If a defendant has multiple specialties and board certifications, the expert may need to be an identical match.

Therefore, if the defendant surgeon carries board certifications, the qualified healthcare professional is required under the law to have the same ones. This affidavit of merit should contain:

  • The standard of care related to the case
  • That the defendant violated that particular standard of care
  • What the defendant should have done to not violate the standard of care
  • How the violation of duty caused injuries to the plaintiff

This affidavit is important in giving the case validity in the courts, as well as helping cut down on frivolous legal pursuits. To this end, a tenacious surgical errors lawyer will work to identify an applicable care professional and obtain the required documents needed to file a valid claim in Michigan.

Michigan surgical errors lawyer

Statute of Limitations for Surgical Error Lawsuits

According to Michigan Compiled Laws § 600.5805, those wishing to file a surgical error lawsuit need to do so within two years of the date that the injury occurred. This period can be extended in cases involving minor children and those resulting in the death of the patient.

There is also an exception to this deadline for patients who have a surgical object left inside of them. If the two years have elapsed, an injured patient has an additional six months from the time that the object is discovered or when it reasonably should have been discovered to pursue compensation.

Surgical Errors Case Study

A 45-year-old woman sued her surgeon for complications during an angiogram. She filed a lawsuit alleging the doctor committed malpractice during vascular surgery. She suffered paraplegia and underwent a leg amputation. She became permanently disabled.

The surgeon denied liability and the case went to trial. The jury awarded the patient $34,361,253 in damages.

Contact our Michigan Surgical Errors Attorney for Help

If you or a loved one was injured after undergoing surgery, you have legal options that will be explained by our compassionate Michigan surgical errors lawyers. After a botched procedure—such as a wrong patient surgery or object left in a patient after surgery—you are likely to be traumatized and unaware of the extent of your rights.

A skillful attorney will answer your questions and shoulder the burdens of a claim so that you can focus on your recovery.

To schedule a consultation, contact Buckfire Law Firm today. There are no fees unless you win a settlement.

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