Fatal Hemorrhage From Surgery Lawyer

During an illness or injury, we have little choice but to put ourselves in the hands of our healthcare providers with a degree of trust. Never is that trust more of a leap of faith than during surgery, when a patient is placed under anesthesia and completely vulnerable. Unfortunately, surgical errors are more common than you might think. Surgical mistakes can cause severe trauma, including when wrong-patient, wrong-site, or wrong-side surgery causes permanent harm, or when a surgeon makes a devastating slip or miscalculation. Tragically, one of the worst outcomes of surgical errors is patient death. Fatal hemorrhage during or post-surgery is one of the leading causes of surgical fatalities.

What Causes Surgical Hemorrhage?

A hemorrhage is excessive bleeding caused by a damaged or ruptured blood vessel. Data from the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation shows that surgical hemorrhage is the leading cause of operating room death, with two-thirds of surgical hemorrhage deaths occurring during emergency surgery, and one-third of surgical hemorrhages occurring during elective procedures. The most common causes of accidental surgical hemorrhage include the following:

• Accidental injury to blood vessels or organs during surgery
• Faulty surgical technique, such as improper dissection
• Counterindicated medications that adversely affect clotting
• An incomplete patient history of clotting disorders
• An adverse effect of some types of anesthesia causes an increase in blood pressure, leading to tissue perfusion, which escalates bleeding

Surgical hemorrhage can occur during the surgery or postoperatively. Higher than normal bleeding during surgery is known as an intraoperative hemorrhage. In some cases, blood loss triggers coagulopathy —an unfortunate circular effect during severe bleeding when the body absorbs clotting factors and produces extra fluid, further diluting the coagulation system and escalating the hemorrhage. 

When not immediately and effectively mitigated, excessive blood loss during surgery leads to hypotension (lowered blood pressure), hypothermia (lowered body temperature), eventual lack of oxygenated blood to the brain and organs, shock, cardiac arrest, and death.

Does Fatal Hemorrhage Happen Most Often During or After Surgery?

Intraoperative hemorrhage occurs when complications arise during surgery, often the result of a surgical error, such as the surgeon accidentally nicking the liver or spleen or damaging a major artery.

When a surgeon’s mistake causes intraoperative hemorrhage, the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and medical team must immediately implement corrective measures to stop the bleeding and mitigate blood loss. Depending on the details of the case, the surgeon and/or the surgical team may be responsible for malpractice due to a fatal surgical hemorrhage.

More commonly, fatal hemorrhages occur postoperatively, during the hours or days after the surgery. The most common causes of post-operative bleeding include the following:

• Damage to an artery that went unnoticed during the surgery
• A slipped internal ligature
• An artery damaged by surgical infection
• Digestive ulcers following abdominal surgery
• Premature hospital discharge
• Inadequate discharge instructions

Postoperative hemorrhages are categorized as primary hemorrhages if they occur within 24 hours after the surgery, or secondary hemorrhages if they happen days or weeks after surgery

Medical studies show that post-surgical bleeding is a more common cause of post-surgical deaths than blood clots.

Understanding Duty of Care In Arizona Fatal Hemorrhage Surgical Error Cases

When a doctor or other medical provider’s mistake causes serious harm or death to a patient, it is medical malpractice. A controversial Johns Hopkins study suggests that medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the United States. When a surgeon or post-surgical team’s error causes a fatal hemorrhage, the decedent’s family has the right to file a medical malpractice wrongful death claim against the responsible provider or the hospital, depending on whether the provider is an employee or an independent contractor with surgical privileges at the hospital.

A successful claim requires demonstrating with carefully documented evidence that the provider’s surgical error, or failure to diagnose and treat post-operative bleeding, meets the following legal standards of medical malpractice:

• A doctor/patient relationship was in effect at the time the malpractice occurred
• The doctor owed a duty of legal care to the decedent to treat them at the standard of care accepted by the medical community
• The doctor breached their duty of care through a medical mistake or negligence
• The breach of duty directly caused the death
• The family suffered damages from the medical malpractice wrongful death of their loved one

Recovering compensation for surgical malpractice after a fatal hemorrhage death does not bring the loved one back, but it gives them a voice for justice and provides compensation to the family for their financial losses, allowing them to focus on saying goodbye to their loved one.

What Can a Family Recover In a Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Claim In Arizona?

Surgery is frightening for the patient and their family. When a surgery ends with a fatal hemorrhage either mid-surgery or during the hours or days after the operation, it’s devastating for the loved ones left behind. A medical malpractice wrongful death claim helps bring financial accountability and a sense of closure to grieving family members. A successful claim recovers damages such as the following:

• Reimbursement for medical expenses
• Funeral and burial expenses
• The lost income of a family member who took time away from work due to the death
• Compensation for the lost earnings and benefits of a provider for the working years they would have had remaining to them
• Loss of household services, such as caring for children or home and yard maintenance
• Loss of a spouse’s companionship and consortium, or loss of the love and support of a parent or child

In Arizona, wrongful death claims after medical malpractice can be brought against a negligent provider by a spouse, parent, child, or the representative of the decedent’s estate.

Call the Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Knapp & Roberts After a Fatal Hemorrhage From Surgery

After an unexpected death caused by a fatal hemorrhage from surgery, you and your family deserve time to mourn your loss. A medical malpractice claim is complex and time-consuming, requiring skilled management. Call Knapp & Roberts to learn more about your family’s rights after a grievous, preventable loss.