The Most Common Surgical Errors

The most common surgical errors include the following:

• Foreign Object Left Behind. The most common surgical mistake occurs when a foreign object is left in the patient during surgery. These often include a sponge, towel or even a medical instrument. These cases often involve negligence against both the surgeon and the nursing staff assisting the surgery.
• Wrong Procedure. One consequence of assembly line medicine is that surgeons sometimes will perform the wrong procedure on a patient.
• Wrong Site. It is not uncommon for a surgeon to operate on the wrong part of the body.
• Unnecessary Surgery. This occurs both as a result of misdiagnosis and also when a doctor puts his or her financial interests above the interests of the patient.
• Lack of Informed Consent. A doctor must inform the patient of information which is important to his or her decision to undergo the surgery. This includes complications arising from a surgery if those complications would be serious enough to affect the patient's decision to proceed with surgery.
• Anesthesia Errors. The most common examples of errors committed in the administration of anesthesia include incorrect dose, wrong type, improper induction and failure to properly manage the administration of blood, fluids and medications.

Do I have a Viable Medical Malpractice Claim?

The first step in a medical malpractice claim in a surgical error case is proving that the surgeon or an assistant fell below the standard of care. A bad outcome on its own does not give rise to a medical malpractice claim—a medical doctor must specify the acts or omissions that fell below the standard of care. Assuming an expert witness concludes that a doctor was negligent, there must be evidence that the negligence harmed the patient.

Our law firm has identified the best experts in medical specialties to investigate your medical malpractice claim.

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