Tampa Surgical Error Attorney

Have You Been a Victim of Surgical Error in FL?

Surgical procedures, while intended to improve health, can sometimes lead to severe complications when errors occur. If you or a loved one has suffered due to a surgical mistake, you need an experienced attorney who understands the complexities of medical malpractice law. Our firm in Tampa, FL, is dedicated to advocating for victims of surgical errors, ensuring they receive the justice and compensation they deserve.

Get the representation you need for a surgical error claim. Call us today at (813) 993-1448 for a free consultation or fill out our online form.

What Are Surgical Errors?

A surgical error means that a doctor did not maintain their standard of care during surgery and, as a direct result, someone suffered serious injuries. As you might expect, this can cover a wide range of incidents and isn’t exclusive to doctors making incisions. Surgical errors can also include anesthetic errors or even operating on the wrong patient.

Surgical errors can occur due to various reasons, including negligence, inadequate preoperative planning, or lack of proper post-operative care.

Keep in mind that “medical malpractice” is a specific kind of claim and typically requires that the patient suffers specific damages (such as serious injury, emotional trauma, lost wages, past and future medical bills, or hospitalization) because of a doctor’s negligence.

Two Categories of Surgical Errors

All surgical mistakes can be sorted into one of two categories:

• Inaction: While avoiding mistakes is important, it can be just as harmful to do nothing at all in certain situations. For example, failing to notice the signs of a surgery patient in distress and doing nothing to address their condition can be life-threatening.
• Incorrect action: On the other hand, a surgeon or assistant medical technician does something incorrectly, it can be even more dangerous, like cutting a blood vessel or nerve during the operation.

Types of Surgical Errors We Handle

• Wrong-site and wrong-patient surgery
• Surgical instrument left inside the body
• Infections due to improper sterilization
• Anesthesia errors
• Not accounting for medical history

What Are the Most Common Surgical Errors?

Each year, more than 4,000 Americans scheduled for surgery are seriously harmed or even lose their lives due to surgical errors. Of these, roughly 1-in-3 cause permanent injuries, and 1-in-18 result in a fatality. Because these errors are not rare, it’s important for patients to understand a few of the most common surgical errors before their operation.

Wrong Surgery, Wrong Patient

If you’ve been to a hospital recently, you may have had hospital staff ask your full name and date of birth whenever they enter the room. They do this to prevent wrong-surgery and wrong-patient errors. Yet errors are still made, despite this system; occasionally a patient receives surgery meant for someone else. An estimated 25% of medical malpractice claims in the U.S. involve wrong-surgery or wrong-patient errors.

One study analyzing wrong-surgery, wrong-patient errors found that about 17% resulted in injuries or fatalities. In the best of circumstances, a doctor might stop when they realize something’s wrong. In other situations, they may install an unwanted implant that requires another surgery to remove. In either case, this surgical error can result in serious injuries, an extended recovery, anxiety about the next surgery, and you’ll likely need to schedule a date and take time off for the correct procedure.

Foreign Objects

This is what most people think of when they imagine surgical errors. This error describes any situation where a surgeon leaves their tools inside the patient’s body. Often, patients aren’t aware anything is wrong until they experience symptoms (like discomfort, sharp pain, or internal bleeding) months or even years later.

There is no excuse for these mistakes. Surgeons should make sure all of their tools are accounted for before closing the incision. Despite this, there are an estimated 1,500 foreign object claims per year, and many more people may be walking around with tools inside of them without realizing it.

This condition is exceptionally frightening because it likely means scheduling another surgery and undergoing anesthetics to remove to object. Not only can this cause serious injuries, it increases the likelihood of other errors and can cause you to miss work and suffer lost wages during your recovery.

Infection

Post-surgical infections are common, occurring in about 2-3% of all surgeries. That’s an estimated 230,000 cases per year! The worst part is that these infections aren’t always obvious. While some occur at the incision site (superficial infections), others are deep tissue or even organ-related infections.

Left untreated, these infections can worsen into an abscess. In extreme cases, the infection could spread into the bloodstream, causing sepsis. For these reasons, medical staff must keep a close watch for potential infections and warn patients about risk factors before the operation.

Anesthesia Errors

Anesthetic errors are arguably the most common kind of surgical error (1.5 million cases per year), which is frightening because some amount of anesthesia is used in most surgical procedures.

Imagine an anesthesiologist with two syringes in his coat. One is a sedative, and the other counteracts it. The doctor injects a syringe into your IV after surgery but didn’t check the label. You’re out for hours longer than you need to be and potentially face anesthetic-related complications.

The reason these errors happen is due to negligence. Anesthesiologists must account for a patient’s full medical history, including their family history, current conditions, past surgeries, and other risk factors. When they don’t, they risk administering an overdose or using the wrong drug and causing an adverse reaction.

Even when the dosage is correct, anesthesiologists are prone to a phenomenon called “syringe swapping.” This means they either reach for the wrong medicine or administer “look-alike, sound-alike” drugs without verifying the name. Not only does this increase the risk of overdose, but it puts vulnerable patients (such as the elderly and immunocompromised) at higher risk of passing away from anesthesia-related complications.

Not Accounting for Medical History

Your medical history determines how doctors will go about surgery. For example, if you have high blood pressure, you’re more likely to have complications from the surgery and anesthesia.

Doctors need to account for your complete medical record, including family history, allergies, and past surgeries, and then make changes to their care plan as needed. If you suffer injuries, such as a severe allergic reaction, because the doctor didn’t account for your history, you should consult a medical malpractice attorney about your case.

How Do You Prove a Surgical Error Occurred?

A surgical error is a type of medical malpractice specific to the negligence of surgeons and other related hospital staff members. Just like in any medical malpractice case, the plaintiff in a surgical error case has a steep evidential burden to overcome. Laws and medical industry regulations tend to favor the medical provider, which makes it more difficult to sue them if something goes wrong.

To start, a surgical error case needs to establish four elements:

• Duty: The surgeon and the patient must have an established doctor-patient relationship in which the surgeon owed them the highest standard of medical care.
• Deviance: At some point, the surgeon must have done something that deviated from that standard of medical care. In other words, they must have done something that another surgeon would have reasonably not done in the same situation.
• Direct causation: The difference in medical care must be the direct cause of the patient’s pain, suffering, and disability.
• Damage: The patient must have experienced damage due to the mistake, like more medical bills or prolonged pain. If the mistake was readily fixed and the patient was mostly unbothered by it, then there might not be grounds for a case.

If these four elements can be established in your surgical error claim, then you can work with an attorney to move onto evidence use and collection. You will want to back your case with as much concrete and convincing evidence as possible because speculation often does not work in a medical malpractice case. Additionally, you might be required by the court to back your claim with the testimony of a medical expert, like another surgeon who reviewed your medical records and the surgery case file for issues.

Key Steps in Filing a Surgical Error Claim

1. Seek Medical Attention: Your health and safety are the top priority. Seek immediate medical attention to address any complications resulting from the surgical error. Ensure all treatments and procedures are documented.
2. Consult with a Surgical Error Attorney: Contact an experienced surgical error attorney in Tampa, FL to discuss your case. An attorney will provide a free consultation to evaluate your situation and determine the best course of action.
3. Collect Evidence: Your attorney will gather essential evidence to build a strong case. This includes obtaining your medical records, surgical reports, witness statements, and expert medical opinions.
4. File a Notice of Intent: In Florida, before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, you must provide the healthcare provider with a Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation. This notice must be filed at least 90 days before filing the lawsuit and should include a detailed description of the claim and the damages sought.
5. Pre-suit Investigation: During the 90-day period after the Notice of Intent is filed, both parties will conduct a pre-suit investigation. This involves reviewing the medical records, obtaining expert opinions, and attempting to resolve the claim through negotiation or mediation.
6. Filing the Lawsuit: If the claim is not resolved during the pre-suit investigation, your attorney will file a formal lawsuit in court. The lawsuit will outline the allegations of negligence, the injuries sustained, and the compensation sought.
7. Discovery Phase: During the discovery phase, both parties exchange information and evidence related to the case. This includes depositions, interrogatories, and requests for documents.
8. Negotiation and Settlement: Many surgical error claims are settled out of court. Your attorney will negotiate with the defendant's legal team to reach a fair settlement. If a settlement is reached, you will receive compensation without going to trial.
9. Trial: If a settlement cannot be reached, your case will proceed to trial. Your attorney will present the evidence and arguments to a judge or jury, who will determine the outcome of the case.

Challenges in Surgical Error Cases

• Statute of Limitations: You have two years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in Florida from the date you discover, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury caused by the surgical error.
• Expert Witness Requirement: Finding a qualified expert to testify is crucial.
• Burden of Proof: You must prove negligence, causation, and damages.
• Complex Legal Process: Medical malpractice cases are often lengthy and complex.

Get Legal Help for Filing a Surgical Error Claim in FL

Gunn Law Group, P.A. offers our legal assistance to patients who have been seriously injured or who lost a loved one due to a surgeon’s carelessness. Our Tampa surgery error lawyers are backed by 75+ years of combined experience and hundreds of client success stories. To make matters simpler for you as our client, you don’t pay any attorney fees unless we win your case.

Call our Tampa surgery error attorneys at (813) 993-1448 now to schedule a FREE consultation.