This November, a California surgeon was placed on probation after mistakenly removing a patient’s right kidney. The operation, conducted in 2012, was supposed to be performed on the patient’s left, cancerous kidney. The surgeon, a urologist who was licensed for 41 years, performed the operation from memory—a mistake that has since required an additional surgery for the patient.

While wrong-site operations are not the most frequent of surgical errors, they are more common than one may think. A 2010 study of 6,000 doctors revealed 27,370 adverse events which occurred during surgeries performed between January 2002 and June 2008. Twenty-five were identified as wrong-patient surgeries and 107 were identified as wrong-site operations. “Of these,” reports USA Today, “five patients who received unnecessary surgery and 38 who received wrong-site operations were significantly harmed.” One patient who underwent a wrong-site surgery died as a result.

Additionally, a 2006 study reported by CNN revealed even more disturbing statistics. The study found that approximately 2,700 mistakes that involve a wrong-patient or wrong-site operation are made every year. When broken down, this equals nearly seven mistakes made every day. And while the mistakes may not be made intentionally, when they do occur, they can have far-reaching, negative consequences.

Doctor Marty Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, reported in The Wallstreet Journal that although doctors take a vow to do no harm, they also operate under another unspoken rule in the field: “to overlook the mistakes of our colleagues.” Makary revealed how the astute perception of a nurse once saved him from cutting into a patient’s lung after an intern had prepped the wrong side. He also added how “U.S. surgeons operate on the wrong body part as often as 40 times a week.”

One recent event in Oregon left a little boy, who had come in for surgery to correct a lazy eye, with two painful operations. As the doctor was completing the procedure, she realized the operation had been performed on the wrong eye. “I feel like we had a right to know the second she realized she was in the wrong eye,” the boy’s mother told CNN. As a professional surgeon, the boy’s mother believes the doctor should have realized right away that she was not operating in the eye with the problem.

When a doctor makes a surgical error, such performing a wrong-site operation, a patient is likely eligible for compensation. If this has happened to you, you do not have to go through it alone. Contact a compassionate and experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney today. We are here to help you get the compensation you deserve.

Routine Surgery Results in Severe Medical Trauma

Earlier this year, a Connecticut woman was awarded $12 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit after her colon was punctured during a routine hernia surgery. The error led to a massive abdominal infection. Additionally, the woman went into septic shock and suffered a heart attack and organ failure. The woman then fell into a month-long coma, had to have a large part of her large intestine removed, and also sustained permanent injuries.

Common Surgical Errors

According to CNN News, medical errors, such as the one noted above, kill more than 200,000 people every year in the United States. Medical professionals estimate that these serious types of medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the U.S.

One of the most common types of medical errors is the accidental puncturing of an organ. In fact, a report from the National Institute of Health (NIH) states that laparoscopic surgery carries severe risk of puncturing an organ and is by far the most common type of operation for women addressing gynecological issues. WebMD notes that more than 4,000 preventable mistakes—such as the puncturing of an organ, operating on the wrong body part, or performing an incorrect procedure—occur annually and result in an impressive $1.3 billion in medical malpractice payouts every year.

Contact a Connecticut Medical Malpractice Attorney

Having surgery can be frightening—especially when considering the risks and the potential for human error. If you recently underwent surgery and experienced a resulting injury, severe medical trauma, or were not made sufficiently aware of the surgical risks, you may be eligible for compensation. The most important step to determine if this is the case is to seek the counsel of a legal professional. You do not have to go through it alone. Contact a dedicated Westport medical malpractice attorney today to discuss your case. Call 203-226-6168.

All medical procedures have some degree of inherent risk. When things go wrong, it is not always the fault of the medial professional who is handling the situation. Sometimes an amalgamation of unforeseen events causes a patient to suffer unexpected consequences. These are what are known as adverse events. According to a paper from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), there is a big difference between such adverse events and negligence. Negligence implies that the less-than-great consequences of the medical procedure are the fault of the medical professional. Additionally, thousands of errors are made every year “resulting in injuries to patients who many deserve compensation.” Yet it can be challenging to determine what constitutes medical error and what is resultant from the standard risk inherent to medical procedures.

According to the NIH, a Harvard Public Health study found that roughly 27 percent of adverse effects from medical procedures occur because of negligence on the part of a medical professional. “Medicine is not an exact science,” the NIH states, “and complications are an inherent feature of any procedure or medical intervention.” Surgeries, across the board, typically carry a 3 to 4 percent risk of infection. While sterilizing equipment and ensuring that all professionals are held to the highest standard of cleanliness can help mitigate the risk of infection from unsterile objects during surgery, there is still this risk during a surgical procedure.

Another important distinction to make when determining medical negligence or error is that between system errors and negligence. A doctor is negligent, for example, if the patient is suffering kidney failure, needs dialysis, and the doctor fails to put the patient on dialysis. However, say the doctor does order dialysis but a nurse misunderstands and the patient does not receive dialysis. This is simple human error. A 1999 paper from the Institute of Medicine, “To Err is Human,” states that “most medical errors are the result of unavoidable human error, which can only be reduced through system changes.”

If you suspect that you have been the victim of medical error, the most important step is to seek legal counsel. Do not go through it alone. Contact an experienced Westport medical malpractice attorney today.