Surgery is always serious. Patients accept real risks when they agree to go under anesthesia, trusting that the surgeon and operating room team will follow the standards of their profession. Most surgeons work hard and do their best in difficult situations. But when avoidable surgical errors occur like operating on the wrong body part, leaving instruments or sponges inside a patient, damaging nearby organs out of inattention, or failing to monitor the patient afterwards that is not the case. Those injuries are not just a complication. They are the result of negligence. Just because a risk is a known risk does not mean it is an unavoidable risk.
Surgical error cases can involve many different scenarios such as injuries nerves or tissue outside the surgical field, knicking an artery, a laparoscopic surgery converted to an open procedure because of poor technique, or a patient sent home too soon only to return to the emergency room with internal bleeding or infection. Sometimes the problem is not a single moment in the operating room but the choice to attempt a complex surgery without the right training or to continue practicing despite declining skills. Surgeons are well-compensated because it takes extraordinary skill to heal with a knife. When that skill is not there, patients pay the price.
When we investigate a potential surgical negligence case, we examine the operative report, anesthesia records, nursing notes, and post-operative care in detail. We look at what was planned, what actually happened in the operating room, and how the medical team responded when things started to go wrong. We work with experienced surgical experts who can explain whether the injuries you suffered were an unavoidable risk or the result of care falling below the accepted standard. If your life has been changed by a preventable surgical error, Jeffrey Carey will work to secure compensation for additional surgeries, lost income, future medical care, and the pain and disruption that come with an injury that never should have happened.
If you believe a mistake was made during your surgery, you don’t have to accept “these things just happen” as the final word. A careful review by a medical malpractice lawyer can help you understand what went wrong and what can be done about it.