Five Reasons Why Surgical Mistakes Happen

13 Oct Five Reasons Why Surgical Mistakes Happen

According to WrongDiagnosis.com, over 4,000 medical malpractice payments are sent every year to patients who have suffered because of surgical errors. The majority of these instances, some fatal, some debilitating, occur not because of human error, but because of negligence, irresponsibility and reckless behavior by the surgical doctor.
According to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health care Organizations the instances of major surgical mistakes have risen considerably since 10 years ago. Their report also went into detail regarding five common reasons why thousands of surgical mistakes continue to happen each year even in 2009.

The most common types of surgical errors included the following situations:

1.A surgical team operating on the wrong part of the body
2.Improper surgical procedures
3.Surgical instruments left in the patient’s body
4.Unnecessary surgery, not related to the initial diagnosis
5.Operating on the wrong patient

What about the scenario of physical damage resulting from a planned surgery? Would this be considered an act of God or at least a scenario that is beyond the culpability of doctors? It depends. If the risk of severe physical damage is not explained to the patient beforehand, then a doctor could still be held liable for medical malpractice.

You may think that 4,000 claims paid each year is a significant number. However, this is relative to the 98,000 patients that die from medical malpractice in a given year, as estimated by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

The fact of the matter is that many families who have suffered because of surgical mistakes are afraid to come forward. You may not be able to fight the system alone but with an experienced lawyer you can win the compensation you rightfully deserve. Contact the Rasansky Law Firm and talk about the surgical errors that you have suffered with an experienced malpractice lawyer. Call 1-800-ATTORNEY or complete our form for a free consultation.