Who Can Be Held Liable for Surgical Errors?

It takes a leap of faith when we place ourselves in the hands of a surgeon while under anesthesia, unconscious, and vulnerable on the operating table. Still, we trust our surgeons and their teams to treat our lives with as much care as they would their own. Unfortunately, medical mistakes, negligence, and communication failures result in serious harm more often than you might think. Alarmingly, a controversial Johns Hopkins study suggests that medical malpractice may be the third leading cause of death in the United States. 

Surgical errors are among the most egregious examples of medical malpractice in Arizona and elsewhere, making it crucial to contact a skilled Phoenix medical malpractice lawyer if you or a loved one has been harmed.

Understanding Medical Malpractice Liability

We trust our doctors because we understand that they are held to a high standard of care during their clinical practice. When a doctor fails to treat a patient the way another reasonable doctor would have in the same circumstances, it means they have committed medical malpractice. Proving medical malpractice requires the injury victim to compile evidence showing that the case meets the following standards of medical malpractice liability:

• A doctor/patient relationship was established when the injury occurred
• The doctor owed a duty of care to treat the patient at the standard of care accepted by the medical community
• They breached this duty of care through negligence
• The breach of duty directly caused an injury to the patient
• The injury victim suffered economic and non-economic damages from the injury.

Damages in medical malpractice claims for surgical errors are often extensive, with both economic and non-economic damages that significantly impact the patient’s life. In many medical malpractice claims for surgical errors, catastrophic damages apply due to permanent harm caused to the patient. This is because surgical mistakes often cannot be fully corrected. In some cases, a patient requires additional surgery to address the original issue. For example, if a surgeon performs surgery on the wrong knee, the patient will need a second surgery on the correct knee.

What Types of Surgical Errors Occur In Arizona?

All surgeries are highly invasive medical procedures that require all involved medical providers to follow proper protocols and take reasonable measures to avoid causing harm. Despite globally accepted procedures to minimize the risk of surgical errors, mistakes still occur, leaving a patient with permanent consequences.

The most common examples of surgical malpractice include the following:

• Anesthesia errors
• Failure to obtain informed consent
• Wrong-site surgeries
• Wrong-side surgeries
• Wrong-patient surgeries
• Medical implements left behind in a body cavity
• Medical errors, such as accidentally lacerating other organs or blood vessels
• Failure to provide adequate post-surgical care and monitoring
• Premature patient release
• Inadequate post-surgical instructions

After suffering an injury or a worsened medical outcome, a medical malpractice victim has the right to file a claim against the liable party.

Who May Be Liable for Damages After a Surgical Error?

Doctors, medical staff, and hospital facilities rarely admit to medical malpractice. Instead, it often takes an experienced medical malpractice lawyer with access to trusted medical experts to investigate a surgical error claim. Part of this investigation involves determining the correct liable party to avoid a case being invalidated. Common parties proven liable for surgical error damages in medical malpractice claims include:

• The surgeon, if they are not a hospital employee but an independent doctor with privileges to practice at the hospital
• The hospital or surgical center if the surgeon is an employee
• The anesthesiologist 
• A nurse or other member of the surgical team
• Hospital administration

Hospital administrators may be held liable if they fail to provide adequate training or monitoring to ensure that surgical teams practice proper safety protocols or fail to obtain the patient’s complete medical history.

What Types of Evidence Prove Liability for Surgical Error Cases?

An injury victim or their family can begin gathering crucial evidence the moment they suspect medical malpractice occurred during surgery. Their medical report from before the surgery and the post-surgical report help to clarify what occurred during the surgery. It’s important to obtain the full medical record and any photographic or video evidence. The names and contact information of the surgical team are also important to the investigation.

After experiencing medical malpractice, a patient should seek a complete medical evaluation by a trusted provider who isn’t associated with the hospital where the malpractice occurred. Then, carefully follow the doctor’s treatment plan and keep copies of all medical bills and receipts for related expenses.

If the surgical error has interfered with your ability to return to work, an employer statement and your tax returns showing your income in the past three years help to prove the lost income portion of your damages. 

What Damages Can I Recover With Evidence of Liability?

A patient can only recover compensation for a medical malpractice injury if they suffered economic consequences of the injury as well as pain and suffering. These consequences of medical malpractice become the “damages” in a claim for compensation. Proving that an injury victim suffered damages is the final portion of proving liability. Common damages in surgical error malpractice claims include the following:

• Reimbursement for medical expenses
• Future medical expenses
• Out-of-pocket costs
• Lost earnings
• Future income loss/diminished earning ability
• Compensation for pain and suffering
• Compensation for catastrophic injuries, such as loss of limb, loss of an organ, loss of one of the senses, scarring, or disfigurement
• Emotional damages, like PTSD, anxiety, or depression

A medical malpractice attorney examines the medical report, adds up the medical costs associated with treating the harm caused by the surgical error, and consults with medical experts to obtain a clear picture of the injury victim’s past and future damages. 

What If a Surgical Mistake Causes Death?

In the most egregious surgical error malpractice cases, the doctor or other provider’s mistake may have caused a fatal injury. In these cases, the claim becomes a medical malpractice wrongful death claim. In Arizona, a close family member of the deceased victim, such as a spouse, parent, or child, may file a claim to recover compensation for wrongful death. A wrongful death claim against a liable party in a medical malpractice case recovers funeral costs and the lost income of a provider, as well as compensation for emotional grief and anguish.