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Surgical mistakes

A patient is told they need "routine" surgery.
They are reassured.
They are told it is a simple, common procedure that can be done in the ambulatory surgery center.

The patient walked into the hospital for the procedure and because of mistakes, errors and/or complications that were undisclosed, your loved one may not walk out of the hospital in one piece.

If you think this brief description is unrealistic, you are wrong.

While there are many good physicians and good hospitals here in the state of New York, as an attorney who has been in practice for over 20 years handling medical malpractice and negligence cases, I have seen many cases of neglect and improper care during surgery. 

Surgical errors can be deadly.

The most common type of surgical errors seen in my practice involves the failure to recognize an intra--operative complication or mistake. Many times, there are "known, recognized" complications that can occur even in the best of circumstances, and in the best of hands. This is not where the most common medical error occurs. Rather, it occurs from the physician failing to recognize that an inadvertent injury occurred. I see this many times in patients who have laparoscopic surgery.

Soon after surgery the patient develops significant complications, which if undiagnosed and treated in a timely fashion, may result in infection, bleeding, the need for additional surgery and even death. 

If a known complication occurs during surgery and the injury is recognized before the surgery is completed, a surgeon can often call in additional help to correct and repair the problem.

Unfortunately, there are some surgeons who fail to inform their patients about the possibility or likelihood of certain complications that can arise during the course of surgery. As a result of their failure to properly inform the patient of the likelihood of complications, the patient is deprived of the opportunity to make a truly informed decision about whether this surgical procedure is the right one for them. This is known as a "lack of informed consent" claim.

If you have specific questions about surgical errors please pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I can answer your legal questions. 

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