Surgical Errors

Many times, a surgical error is a result of medical malpractice. Whether related to error of an attending surgeon, a surgical resident, anesthesiologist or nursing staff, surgical errors and injuries occur far too often. If a medical professional made a surgical error that caused unnecessary complications, he or she can be held responsible for medical malpractice. Common examples of surgical complications and errors include:

• Surgeons operating on the wrong area of the body
• Performing the surgery incorrectly
• Performing the wrong surgery
• Performing the surgery on the wrong patient
• Performing surgery when there were other options
• Causing damage that was not explained to the patient before the surgery

Every time a surgical procedure is performed, there are known risks related to the procedure. Injuries or complications during surgery may occur without negligence on the part of the doctor or the hospital where the surgery took place. When surgery is elective, a patient must be informed of the risks, and make an informed decision about whether to consent to the surgery. If elective surgery was consented to, knowing the risks, even a tragic result might not warrant a medical malpractice claim.

It must be realized that even though many surgical errors occur within the field of medicine, not all errors are considered below the appropriate level of care. Accidents happen in every facet of human life on a daily basis and modern medicine is not excluded from this fact.