When you go in for surgery, whether it’s same-day or inpatient, you have every right to expect the medical team that handles the procedure to be professional and competent. When a surgeon makes an error due to poor communication, fatigue, or inadequate training, the consequences can include medical complications or death. 

If you’ve been harmed due to a surgical error in Flagstaff, Arizona, Gill Law Firm can help. We are a team of innovative, focused, and passionate personal injury attorneys serving Flagstaff and other communities in Arizona. We are deeply committed to helping injured people pursue justice. We have extensive experience with medical malpractice cases and don’t charge anything until we recover compensation for you. Contact Gill Law Firm today if you have a surgical error malpractice claim. 

What Is a Surgical Error?

The article “Prevention of Surgical Errors” defines a surgical error as an injury that:

  • Occurs in the context of an operation
  • Is unintended
  • Is not part of the normal, acceptable risk of surgery
  • Is preventable by following procedure-specific protocols

In other words, surgeons can avoid committing surgical errors by following the correct protocols for their procedure. Surgical errors can occur when surgeons or other medical professionals fail to follow correct protocols.

Types of Surgical Error

Common types of surgical errors include:

  • Retained foreign bodies, meaning items accidentally left inside the patient
  • Wrong-site errors, which take place when surgery is performed on the wrong body part
  • Wrong-procedure errors, which occur when the surgeon performs the wrong surgery on the patient
  • Wrong patient errors
  • Mislabeled surgical specimens, which happens when tissue samples are identified with the wrong name, number, or origin

Other types of surgical errors include:

  • Failure to provide proper care before the procedure
  • Failure to monitor the patient during or after the procedure

Causes of Surgical Error

Common causes of surgical error include:

  • Miscommunication
  • Unnecessary procedures
  • Insufficient training
  • Provider burnout

Although all these factors can lead to surgical errors, these errors often have multiple causes. For example, an inexperienced and overworked new surgeon may fail to communicate clearly with a colleague, resulting in a wrong-site procedure. When a surgical error results from negligence, you can collect compensation through a medical malpractice claim. 

Steps to Take After a Surgical Error

You may not realize that you are the victim of surgical error immediately. For example, if a surgeon left a foreign object inside your body, it may take some time before you discover this fact. In some cases, such as wrong-site or wrong-procedure surgeries, you may find out about the error immediately.

If you’ve experienced a surgical error, the steps you should take include:

  • Seek medical care immediately from a doctor other than the one who harmed you.
  • Follow whatever treatment the doctor recommends, including visiting any specialist the doctor sends you to.
  • Document everything. This means keeping all medical bills and medical records, documenting time missed at work and lost income, and keeping a journal to keep track of your pain and suffering and any other issues you encounter.
  • Contact a medical malpractice lawyer immediately.

Medical Malpractice in Arizona

Under Arizona law, a medical malpractice action is defined as a lawsuit for personal injury or wrongful death caused by a medical provider’s:

  • Negligence
  • Misconduct
  • Errors
  • Omissions
  • Breach of contract

If a medical provider commits a surgical error due to negligence, you may have a medical malpractice claim. How can you know whether the surgical error resulted from negligence?

Standard of Care

According to a study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “standard of care” refers to the actions a similar prudent healthcare provider would take in a similar situation to the one in which the harm was inflicted. For instance, a prudent surgeon would not carelessly leave a surgical tool inside the patient’s body. As the NCBI says, “Failure to meet the standard of care is negligence.” Negligence is the basis of a medical malpractice claim, so to prove negligence in your malpractice case, your lawyer must prove that your medical provider failed to meet the standard of care.   

Proving a Medical Malpractice Claim

To prove a medical malpractice claim, your lawyer must establish that:

  • You had a treatment relationship with the provider who made the error, establishing a duty of care toward you.
  • The provider breached that duty by failing to uphold the established standard of care.
  • This failure caused you harm.

If your lawyer can establish all the elements to prove a medical malpractice claim, you can collect compensation for your losses, including:

  • The cost of your medical care, including all future care you might need due to the surgical error
  • Your lost income, including wages and commissions you missed while out of work, and diminished lifetime earning potential
  • Any pain and suffering you have experienced due to the surgical error
  • Your emotional distress
  • Loss of enjoyment of life as a result of your injuries

In cases involving egregious misconduct on the part of your surgical team, you may also be able to seek punitive damages if your case goes to trial.

The Statute of Limitations in Arizona

If you have a medical malpractice case in Arizona, you have two years to file your case under the statute of limitations. However, this two-year countdown doesn’t start until you discover or should have discovered the surgical error that harmed you. You should contact an Arizona personal injury lawyer as soon as you realize you’ve been harmed by a surgical error.

Contact an Arizona Medical Malpractice Law Firm Today

An Arizona personal injury law firm with medical malpractice experience can help you pursue your claim against the medical providers who injured you. Gill Law Firm is a personal injury firm serving Flagstaff, West Valley, and Buckeye, Arizona. We charge nothing until we recover compensation for you, so don’t hesitate. Contact Gill Law Firm immediately.