When Surgery Goes Wrong, What Next?

• Published date: 24 November 2021
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Personal Injury, Professional Negligence
• Law Firm: Gluckstein Personal Injury Lawyers
• Author: Ms Jan Marin

Having surgery, particularly under a general anesthetic, is nerve-wracking at the best of times. Although many routine procedures and technological advancements have led to better outcomes, every procedure comes with some risk.

Hopefully, when you wake up in recovery, you'll hear the doctor announce that it was an uneventful surgery and a complete success. But if something unexpected occurs, if you are in significant pain or the procedure did not go as expected, you may ask yourself if this unfortunate outcome was the result of a medical error.

This blog outlines the four main types of surgical errors, explains how to determine if there may have been negligence, and what you can do if you or a loved one was injured by suspected medical malpractice.

Four Main Types of Surgical Errors

Medical malpractice cases involving surgeries tend to fall into four main categories. In the first two categories, it is often apparent that there was negligence. It will not be clear if negligence played a role in the outcome in the other two categories, and a deeper investigation will be required.

1. Wrongful surgery - If surgery was performed on the wrong patient, if the correct surgery was performed on the wrong body part, or if surgery was unnecessary based on a patient's profile, some form of negligence is likely involved Wrongful surgeries, which substantially impact a body (for example amputating the wrong limb), can profoundly affect a person's enjoyment of life, ability to work, and psychological well-being In these medical malpractice cases, the question is usually not if there will be an award or monetary compensation to a patient, but rather how much they or their loved ones will receive.
2. Objects left inside the body - There have been cases where medical tools, materials or other objects are inadvertently left inside the patient's body. There are protocols and safety checks to prevent this from occurring to ensure foreign objects are accounted for. Infection, scarring nerve damage and/or remedial surgeries are all possible outcomes in these cases. Once again, proving negligence and damages is generally straightforward with this type of case.
3. Substandard post-surgical care - Your medical provider's responsibility to you, as a patient, doesn't end when you are stitched up or sent home. Ensuring proper follow-up care is an important piece of recovery. Patients need to be monitored and educated about the signs of infection or other post-surgical issues relevant to...