7 Surgical Errors That Lead to Lawsuits in Chicago

Surgical errors are tragic and lead to immense suffering for their victims (both physically and financially). In Chicago, the sheer size of the population causes more surgical errors to happen than you’d imagine. Seven types of surgical errors commonly lead to surgical error lawsuits in Chicago:

1. Left Behind Surgical Instruments

Surgeries are complicated and chaotic, even when the most competent surgery team is overseeing your operation. That being said, this pressure is no excuse for negligent surgical behavior and results. One of the most egregious of these oversights involves cases where a surgery team leaves surgical instruments behind inside of the patient’s body. This body horror scenario is a nightmare to imagine. Surgeons are meant to account for every single instrument post-surgery, so if they leave something behind inside of you, you deserve payment for your suffering and discomfort.

2. Wrong-Site Surgeries

When a surgery team accidentally operates on the wrong site of your body, the results are not only frustrating but often tragic. If an important operation is delayed, and another (often healthy) part of your body is harmed medically without cause, you’ll need to hold the irresponsible surgery team and hospital responsible for their reckless actions. With this in mind, wrong-site surgeries almost always lead to the need to contact the best surgical error attorney Chicago has to offer.

These attorneys can help you, or a harmed loved one, find the justice they rightfully deserve after suffering from a surgery-related injury. Even if you’re simply suffering due to improper financial issues related to your surgery-related injury, an experienced surgical error attorney can help support you during your pursuit of justice.

3. Surgery-Related Infections

Before surgery starts, surgery teams have to be fully certain that the instruments they’re using are sanitary and non-harmful. When surgeons fail to do so, the cross-contamination and germ exposure they are introducing to your body’s internal systems can be overwhelmingly harmful. Especially when a patient already has a weak immune or compromised immune system, this mistake can prove tragic (and even deadly). Sepsis and other infection conditions can upend an affected patient’s life.

4. Internal Organ Damage

Surgeons need patient, sturdy hands to make the precise, life-saving movements they perform throughout a surgical operation. However, if they are not properly trained, are inebriated, or are acting negligently, and they can cause serious damage. Punctured or perforated organs can become a reality if a surgeon slips while using a scalpel or laser, after all. These injuries are difficult to treat, incredibly painful, and can lead to long-lasting, or even life-long conditions.

5. Surgery-Related Nerve Damage

Nerve damage is no joke. While you might not think a single nerve injury would be a big deal, it can literally incapacitate that part of your body, and will almost certainly lead to life-long chronic pain associated with the damaged nerve. When a surgeon or anesthesiologist makes a mistake (or behaves in bad faith) that causes a patient to suffer nerve damage, they need to be held accountable for their negligent and catastrophic actions.

6. Unneeded Surgery

Surgery is a miracle, and can often make the difference between a patient living in pain, or living a comfortable life. In many cases, surgery is even a life-and-death situation. That being said, surgery is not always necessary to treat an injury, and with the exorbitant costs related to surgery, you need to be certain that an operation is essential before going ahead with it. With some surgeries, the need to be certain becomes even more pressing, as some operations come with the risk of massive complications (including death in the most extreme cases). For this reason, people can sue surgeons and hospitals that knowingly pressure them into or perform unneeded or unnecessary surgical operations. While this type of surgery lawsuit is more complicated to pursue, it’s still a relevant and widely performed legal operation that helps many suffering patients regain a hold on their lives.

7. Accidental Patient Injuries

While it may seem unfathomable, there are instances when surgery teams accidentally operate on the wrong patient. Even if these situations are accidental, however, that’s absolutely no excuse for this tragic action. These lawsuits are open-and-shut in almost all cases due to how absurd the negligent surgical action is in the first place. Anyone who’s been a victim of accidental patient injuries should pursue payment and justice immediately. With any surgical error lawsuit, it’s important to keep in mind that there are statutes of limitations and that you need to file your lawsuit before your window for filing a lawsuit closes.