The first thing that you need to take into proper account is that medical malpractice errors encompass a range of different scenarios that could take place in the hospital. Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous and from which derive the greatest consequences are surgical errors.
What is medical malpractice?
It’s obvious that this is the main question that you need to get an answer to. This is a case in which a patient has sustained injuries as a result of the lack of attention, care or professionalism on behalf of a member of the medical staff. This could be a doctor, surgeon, nurse or virtually anyone who has some involvement in his treatment. The standard against which negligence is measured in situations of the kind differs as this is virtually the standard of care.
What is a surgical error?
This is basically a preventable mistake which took place during a surgery. Of course, all surgeries involve a certain element of risk and that’s why you are going to be asked to sign a form which asks you to understand that there are certain known risks – this is the form known as your informed consent. Surgical errors, however, go beyond the well-known risks of surgery as they are unexpected and they are caused because of certain specific reasons, including:
· Incompetence – this is when the surgeon who took care of your surgery didn’t have the necessary skills and qualification to perform the surgery successfully. This tends to happen a lot more than people believe it does.
· Insufficient planning – it is absolutely critical for any professional and experienced surgeon to plan and be perfectly prepared for any kind of surgery, regardless of how routine it may be. If this hasn’t been accounted for, errors can arise.
· Fatigue – this is actually quite common. Surgeons are notoriously known for working long shifts which lead to one thing only – fatigue. And this fatigue could be quite devastating for their decision-making process
· Drugs or alcohol – it’s not that uncommon for surgeons to turn to alcohol and drugs to cope with the tremendous stress of the work place. When this happens, mistakes are unavoidable.
· Neglect – some surgeons, on the other hand, are just not as careful as the duty of care requires them to be. This is also particularly dangerous.
What types of errors are there?
There are quite a few different types of surgical errors that are encapsulated under medical malpractice. Though the reasons can vary, but the most common ones include:
· Operating on the wrong part of the body
· Operating on the wrong patient
· Leaving a piece of surgical equipment inside the patient
· Administrating way too much or not enough medication such as anesthesia
· Injuring a nerve throughout the surgery itself and others of the kind.
You will need to contact the injury lawyer to ensure that you get redressal and the damages.