Doctor's Error Causes Woman to Have Unnecessary Surgery
The California personal injury lawyers at BISNAR | CHASE are very concerned about the high incidence of wrong site surgeries recently, in our nation's hospitals. It's not uncommon to read in the news about how a doctor operated on the wrong side of a patient's brain or removing the wrong limbs or organs.
A Common Surgical Error
Most recently I heard from my friend and Virginia medical malpractice lawyer, Ben Glass, about a medical malpractice victim he represented. In this college student's case, the doctor operated on the wrong side of the shoulder causing the patient to suffer as a result of the doctor's error. How did the doctor explain himself? He says he simply "got confused during surgery." According to Ben Glass' Web site (http://virginia-medical-malpractice.com/2009/12/04/frivolous-malpractice-lawsuits-or-frivolous-defenses/), the doctor, once the surgery started could not figure out whether he was supposed to be operating on the front or back.
He apparently mulled over canceling the surgery as he couldn't ask the patient since she was already under anesthesia. However, he decided against canceling the surgery and simply relied on his memory of what the MRI said. He even got the MRI, but misread it and ended up operating on the wrong side of the shoulder. The patient ended up with one unnecessary surgery, lots of bruising, unnecessary scarring and requiring additional care in the form of physical therapy.
Wrong-Side Surgery Statistics
A study, which was conducted in 2006 and written about in USA Today, documents cases in which surgeons operated on the wrong arm, the wrong rib and in one case the wrong person, among other mistakes. The report that studied 2.8 million operations over a 20-year period suggested that the rate of wrong site surgery anywhere other then the spine occurs once every 112,994 operations. If someone dies as a result of such a surgical error, the victim's family could file a wrongful death claim against the doctor and the hospital.
In 2005 alone, health care facilities reported 84 operations that involved the wrong body part or the wrong patient. Some states require hospitals to report such serious mistakes, many hospitals are not obligated to account for them publicly. This is exactly why we need to talk about this issue and bring incidents to light when they occur.
If you expect to go into surgery some time soon, remember these tips in order to avoid becoming a victim. Remind the entire surgical team including nurses, surgeons and anesthesiologists about what procedure you are expecting to undergo. Ask the doctor to mark the correct surgical site. Ask the doctor to confer with the team before the operation begins to make sure everyone is on the same page. If you have been the victim of a wrong side or wrong site surgery in Virginia, please contact Virginia personal injury lawyer, Ben Glass, for a consultation.
We are not representing any of the parties mentioned in this article at the time the article was posted. Our information source is cited in the article. If you were involved in this incident or a similar incident and have questions as to your rights and options, call a reputable law firm. Do not act solely upon the information provided herein. Get a consultation. The best law firms will provide a free confidential consultation to "not a fault" persons named in this article and their family members.
