If you have suffered from a medical malpractice incident such as a surgical error, you may be entitled to financial compensation from the hospital or surgeon. According to a 2011 study, preventable surgical errors occur in approximately 40 cases each week. Furthermore, wrong-site surgery cases have nearly doubled since 2004.
In some instances, surgical errors may be attributed to the surgeon or staff’s failure to follow proper protocol. Errors could include amputating the wrong limb, operating on the wrong patient, receiving the wrong surgery due to an incorrect diagnosis or performing surgery on the wrong body part. Depending on where you live, the caregiver who committed the error may not even be required to notify an oversight organization or report the incident, meaning that without the right approach, it could be more difficult to bring a case against a medical professional.
It is also important to consider the fact that your caregiver’s mistakes may have lasting ramifications in the future. Many malpractice victims require comprehensive or ongoing care to rectify the complications they experience following an initial wrong procedure, and in some cases, the effects of malpractice might not be discovered until long after the incident. Such delays can increase the need for corrective care and raise the cost of regaining your health.
Medical malpractice cases vary widely in severity and outcome. Legal action may offer victims a chance to recoup the financial losses they experience after a wrong-site surgery, which could have led to additional health problems. Learn more about potential legal responses to your malpractice experience by visiting our page on surgical errors.
Source: Rheingold Giuffra Ruffo Plotkin & Hellman LLP, “New York Hospital Negligence Attorneys”, August 27, 2014
