Surgical Error Lawyer

Florida Surgical Error Attorneys

Surgical errors are extremely frightening to imagine, let alone experience. Before “going under the knife,” we generally trust that the surgeon(s) and medical staff are qualified by years of training/education/experience and adhere to a certain professional/ethical standards. Although pain and discomfort is expected after surgery, and humans make mistakes, we rarely suspect that surgeons will act negligently during the course of their duties with your life in their hands. Sadly, this is not always the case. In fact, medical staff routinely make avoidable errors that result in injury, and in more serious cases, permanent damage/wrongful death.

If you or a loved one were injured by a surgical error, or another form of medical malpractice in Florida, it’s important to get your case reviewed immediately, as there’s a Statute of Limitations on your malpractice case.

Legal contract for a patient to consent to surgeryDetermining If You Have A Case

Although, each case is different and may have a special set of circumstances, there’s several general guidelines in determining a malpractice case. These guidelines include:

NOT MALPRACTICE

  • If the medical staff did not actually make a surgical error or other medical mistake, then it’s legally not considered malpractice.
  • Negative outcomes after surgery does not automatically constitute malpractice. Unfortunately, there are potential risks associated with surgery. If a surgical procedure was performed in accordance with all medical standards, then they’re not liable.

MALPRACTICE

  • A formal patient-doctor relationship must be established (general advice is not sufficient).
  • The surgeon or other medical professional must have acted negligently (i.e not properly sterilizing surgical instruments, leaving tools inside a patient, anesthesia errors, etc).
  • The error must have caused injury to the patient.
  • The injury must have led to damages.

Common Surgical Errors

Surgical instruments or objects left in a patient – Failure to count all tools used during a surgical procedure, Whether a forgotten object is a soft pad of gauze or a sharp pair of scissors, the end result can be blockage, organ damage, internal bleeding, or death.

Organ or nerve damage – These errors often involve the surgeon mishandling the scalpel or other medical instrument and cutting a nerve, tendon, etc. Mishaps like these can be extremely serious and result in life-long pain and disability for the patient.

Anesthesia errors – One of the most common errors during surgery involve a patient being administered the wrong dosage of anesthetics. This error may lead to oxygen deprivation to the patient’s brain, which in turn, may lead to brain damage or death. Another frightening error during surgery, involves the patient being “aware” during the procedure and feeling high levels of pain due to errors by the anesthesiologist or medical staff.

Improper sterilization – Failure to properly sterilize medical equipment used during the course of the surgery exposes the patient to health risks such as infection.

Performing surgery on the wrong body part – It’s not unheard of for surgeons to operate on the incorrect body part. This has occurred even with amputations.

Incorrect surgery – Believe it or not, surgeons sometimes perform the wrong surgery entirely. Many hospitals and surgical practices are overwhelmed and/or understaffed. The medical staff is supposed to perform a “preoperative verification” to ensure the correct procedure is being performed on the correct patient; however, this is sometimes overlooked due to medical negligence.

Faulty Medical Devices

If complications occur due to issues with a surgically implanted medical device, the product manufacturer may actually be at fault. In fact, certain devices carry an unnecessary high risk of injury in patients. Two notable examples of devices that have caused serious patient injury include: Metal hip implants, and Inferior Vena Cava Filters for blood clots

Our law firm is pursuing claims against specific manufacturers of faulty medical products. You can read more about these medical devices and manufacturers here.

It’s important to note, our attorneys can work with you if you were injured by one of these specific devices anywhere in the United States.

Surgical Error Statute of Limitations

Florida’s series of complex Medical Malpractice Laws can be difficult to navigate and understand. The Florida Malpractice Act places the burden of proof upon the plaintiff to prove a medical professional was in fact negligent. In order to do this, another medical professional from the same field will be needed to testify for you. Additionally, causation must be proved, meaning that there must be proof that the medical professional’s actions or failure to act was the cause for your injuries.

“An action for medical malpractice shall be commenced within 2 years from the time the incident giving rise to the action occurred or within 2 years from the time the incident is discovered, or should have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence; however, in no event shall the action be commenced later than 4 years from the date of the incident or occurrence out of which the cause of action accrued, except that this 4-year period shall not bar an action brought on behalf of a minor on or before the child’s eighth birthday…”

The Florida Legislature: (2018) (Section 95.11 7b)

In other words, in many cases, there is a 2-4 year statute of limitations on malpractice claims in Florida with several exceptions (i.e. a minor child was involved). Furthermore, cases involving fraud, intentional misrepresentation, or concealment carry a 7 year maximum limit on filing a claim. As a result, it’s imperative to have your case reviewed by our legal and medical professionals as soon as possible.

Flowchart representation of Florida medical malpractice laws regarding the statute of limitations and how long someone has to file a claim.

Because of this limited time window, it is absolutely critical that you hire an experienced medical malpractice attorney to investigate your case as soon as possible.

Suffering From Complications?

Our medical injury attorneys are experienced in malpractice cases involving surgical errors. Depending on the specific details involved in a claim, a plaintiff may be able to recover compensation for damages such as hospital bills, lost income, and physical pain and suffering. If you or a loved one were injured under the care of a medical professional, contact us for a free & confidential case evaluation.

You pay no fee until we win.
Call Today: 1.800.712.8462

This page was legally reviewed by David Di Pietro. David has been a practicing healthcare and medical malpractice lawyer for over a decade. Throughout this time, he’s represented client’s through various complex issues involving the healthcare system. This includes misdiagnosis, missed strokes, child birth injuries, medication errors and more. He regularly appears on national TV to provide his expertise on well known medical malpractice/personal injury matters such as the multi billion dollar Purdue Pharma Opioid Lawsuit. David is an experienced and aggressive trial attorney that has tried over fifty (50) jury trials and numerous bench trials. David is also a member of the Trial Lawyers and Health Law Sections of the Florida Bar.

This page was medically reviewed by Dr. Tiffany Di Pietro. Tiffany is a board certified physician and serves as the medical advisor for Di Pietro Partners’ medical malpractice and product liability cases. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychobiology from Florida Atlantic University at 19 years old. She then went on to become the youngest graduate from the College of Osteopathic Medicine at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Dr. Di Pietro is quadruple board-certified in cardiology, internal medicine, echocardiography and nuclear cardiology. Tiffany also frequently appears on national news outlets as a medical expert and commentator and has been called as an expert witness for numerous court cases.