Surgical Malpractice

Having an operation ranks as number one on a list of things people
would rather not do. There is an enormous amount of trust placed in the
hands of a surgeon, and one hopes there are no surgical errors.

It's tough enough to get up the courage to face major surgery
without also having to worry if the surgeon is in top form and able to
do the job. Unfortunately however, surgical medical malpractice results
in approximately 98,000 deaths a year. These statistics, courtesy of
the Institute of Medicine, further suggest that total does not include
patients who have wound up with life altering injuries due to surgery.

What is surgical medical malpractice? Most commonly it is the result
of a surgeon failing to give their patient proper care, and that
failure ends up causing serious injuries or death. Typically, this
would have to do with a surgeon not adhering to accepted medical
standards or not properly utilizing their skills.

Sadly, surgical medical malpractice is often due to very simple
errors that should not have occurred had the surgeon been paying close
attention to the surgical field, things such as using improperly
sterilized instruments, a wrong incision, the puncture wound or a cut
to an organ, anesthesia errors, surgery on the wrong organ or side, and
instruments left inside a patient on closing.

Errors during surgery are one thing, negligence in diagnosing the
right kind of operation necessary is another, and that is also
classified as surgical medical malpractice. The three most often
encountered classifications of surgery are emergency, urgent and
elective. In the case of emergency surgery, it needs to be done post
haste, not delayed. Urgent surgery needs to be done within a two-hour
time frame, and elective surgery may be put off for some time.

Many procedures are prone to surgical malpractice, some more so than
others. The ones that seem to be the most susceptible to errors are
operations involving thoracic surgery, cosmetic surgery, gastric
bypass, cardiothoracic and child delivery. While it is true that
surgical medical malpractice is a reality of life, this isn't to say
that the majority of surgeries don't go precisely as planned, and were
deemed a success.

If you suspect you have been a victim of surgical malpractice,
contact a medical malpractice attorney and find out what your rights
are in this situation. Your attorney will be able to advise you of how
cases such as this are handled.

Tim Anderson works with Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M.
Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice,
motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta
personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert or Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury attorney, visit Ozcomert.com.