Patients undergoing surgery have to trust their doctors with their lives. Small mistakes by a surgeon or an anesthesiologist can have catastrophic consequences. Those who need to undergo surgical treatment often expect that doctors are up to date on cutting-edge medical technology and current best practices. Most also expect the healthcare professionals providing their treatment to prioritize their safety at all times.
Unfortunately, what may be a life-altering experience for a patient is just another day at the office for their surgeon. Factors including fatigue and medical burnout might increase the likelihood of a surgeon making significant mistakes during a procedure. For example, a surgeon can potentially operate on the wrong part of a patient’s body.
A wrong-site or wrong-side error can have devastating consequences. Do the patients involved in such cases have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit?
Wrong-site errors are always preventable
Certain kinds of surgical errors are so severe that professionals classify them as never events. These mistakes should never happen in a modern medical facility if professionals follow the right protocol. Operating on the wrong part of a patient’s body or on the right body part on the wrong side is a completely preventable mistake.
It is a relatively common mistake that occurs far more often than it should. Wrong-site surgeries might result in surgeons replacing the wrong hip joint or fusing the wrong vertebrae in the spine. These mistakes are devastating in part because they make a second procedure necessary.
Patients generally still need to undergo the treatment they did not receive when the surgeon performed the operation on the wrong part of their body. Undergoing two surgeries in a short amount of time can drastically increase someone’s recovery time.
In some cases, they may not be able to undergo treatment at all because the wrong-site surgery prevents them from undergoing the correct procedure. Given that wrong-site errors represent major mistakes on the part of the surgeon and their support staff, such scenarios typically provide grounds for medical malpractice lawsuits.
Patients suffering the medical and financial consequences of a surgical error can potentially file a lawsuit. Surviving family members who lose a loved one because of surgical errors may also have grounds to take legal action. Going through a medical malpractice lawsuit may help people get compensated for the harm caused by unprofessional care standards during major medical procedures.