Medical Malpractice Overview

What is Medical Malpractice?

Topics Covered

What Is Surgical Malpractice?
When Is The Surgeon To Blame?
Common Surgical Errors
Your Legal Rights

What Is Surgical Malpractice?

Even minor surgery involves a certain degree of risk. But no one undergoing an operation should awake to find that they've lost use of a healthy arm or leg. Nor should they face additional procedures because their surgeon left metal clamps or sponges inside their bodies.

Unfortunately, these surgical mistakes occur in operating rooms every day. Respected medical studies show that thousands of patients are injured or killed because the surgeon or someone on his medical team was negligent when the highest degree of professionalism was called for.

When is the Surgeon to Blame?

Malpractice occurs when medical professionals fail to perform their jobs according to the accepted standards of their professions. Because of their carelessness, they expose a patient to an unnecessary level of risk and needless harm is done.

If things do go wrong during the operation or if a patient is unsatisfied with the outcome, it does not necessarily mean that malpractice has played a role. In fact, most of the time, complications result from many other factors such as a patient's underlying health or the discovery of more advanced disease.

But patients can die because of mistakes.

In 2008, a Bronx jury awarded more than $16.8 million in damages to two sons of a client of Trolman, Glaser and Lichtman, after surgical errors from a gastric bypass operation led to her death. You can read the full story, as reported by the NY Post, here.

Surgical Errors

Errors that can occur during an operation are truly shocking. Victims are often worse off than before they had their surgery.

There are people who've had perfectly healthy organs removed instead of diseased ones. Cancer victims have been given clean bills of health only to learn later that biopsies were performed on the wrong parts of their body. Women looking for more youthful appearances end up profoundly disfigured as a result of botched face-lifts.

Surgeries performed in an emergency or in out patient centers carry the highest risk of malpractice for patients. Where there is a high volume of patients, surgeons and their assistants are rushed. This increases the chances that mistakes will be made.

The switch to less invasive surgery, such as arthroscopy and laparoscopy, has not been accompanied by a reduction malpractice rates.

The most common surgical errors include:

Surgery performed on wrong area of the body
Surgery performed on the wrong patient
Surgeon performs the wrong procedure
Surgical instruments left in the body - sponges, clamps, other tools
Unjustified surgical intervention
Anesthesia mistakes
Mechanical failures - cutting or severing organs, nerves, ducts, vessels
Poor post-operative management

Your Legal Rights

Surgical mistakes have tragic consequences. An attorney with expertise in medical malpractice can recognize whether medical errors may have brought about a negative outcome after reviewing medical and hospital records.

Should you suspect that you've been a victim of surgical malpractice, you should act quickly in seeking legal assistance. Most states have strict time limits for beginning a lawsuit.

How should someone choose a law firm?

The number one criteria should be whether the firm has a proven record of producing positive results for its clients with legal issues similar to yours.

Our firm, Trolman, Glaser and Lichtman should be at the top of anyone's list should they be victims of a personal injury. We're winners at the negotiating table and in the courtroom.

The dedication and experience our attorney's bring to the practice of law has produced an enviable record of jury awards and settlements, which amount to over $1 billion dollars. See some of the awards we've won for clients.