Chandler Surgical Error Lawyer

As patients, we’ve little choice but to trust our doctors and medical providers with our care and our lives. Never is that trust as essential as when we go into surgery knowing we’ll be incapacitated and completely dependent on the surgical team’s care. When a provider fails to uphold their duty of care, and the result is serious harm to their patient, the patient has the right to a sense of justice through financial compensation. 

Call Knapp & Roberts to speak to an experienced surgical error attorney in Chandler about your rights and options for financial recovery, so you can focus on your physical healing.

Why Select Knapp & Roberts for Your Surgical Error Lawyers In Chandler?

For over 30 years, Knapp & Roberts has worked tirelessly to advocate for injury victims, including those harmed by the very medical professionals tasked with their crucial healthcare. With our team representing you, you’ll have the following advantages on your side:

• Access to renowned medical experts to provide critical supporting evidence
• Decades of experience, knowledge, and resources behind your claim
• A personalized strategy based on the unique circumstances of your surgical error case
• A history of exceptional results, such as a recent $7 million settlement in a hospital negligence case, puts a well-respected legal voice on your side

With our contingency-based payment system, we work for you at no upfront cost, only getting paid after we’ve recovered compensation for you in your claim.

Understanding Common Surgical Error Cases In Chandler 

A patient is in a position of complete vulnerability while on the operating table. Despite universal protocols to prevent devastating errors, the following surgical errors occur in Chandler and elsewhere:

• Injury to adjacent organs, blood vessels, and nerves
• Wrong-patient surgery
• Wrong-side surgery
• Wrong-site surgery
• Anesthesia errors
• Surgical implements left in body cavities
• Surgical awareness
• Improper intubation injuries to the trachea
• Spinal cord injury due to improper patient positioning
• Failure to obtain informed consent

The medical community describes many of these errors as never events because universal protocols are meant to prevent them. Still, an alarming 1,441 surgical errors occurred that are considered “sentinel events” by the medical community in a single recent year. About 6% of them were wrong-site surgeries, such as a surgeon removing a gall bladder rather than an appendix.

Proving Liability In a Surgical Error Case In Chandler

Surgical errors are an egregious form of medical malpractice committed on incapacitated patients. Proving liability for a surgical error requires evidence that meets the standard of liability for medical malpractice. The evidence must show the following:

• A doctor-patient relationship was in effect when the malpractice occurred
• The doctor owed a legal duty of care to the patient, requiring them to treat the patient with the level of care accepted as the standard by the medical community
• They violated this duty of care through negligence
• The violation of their duty caused harm to the patient, such as an injury, a worsened medical condition, a shortened life expectancy, or wrongful death
• The medical malpractice victim or their surviving family suffered damages from the injury

The injured party or their surviving family member bears the burden of proof in a medical malpractice case. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer is an essential ally throughout every step of your case, including an exacting investigation and consultations with medical expert witnesses to support your case.

Who Is Liable In a Chandler Surgical Error Case?

When a preventable surgical error causes you harm, you have the right to seek a sense of justice and financial compensation from the at-fault provider. In many cases, this is the surgeon who performed the procedure and made the error; however, depending on the circumstances of your case, one or more of the following parties could be liable under Arizona’s comparative negligence law:

• The surgeon, if they are an independent contractor
• The hospital or surgical center if the surgeon or other at-fault party is an employee
• The anesthesiologist
• A member of the surgical team
• The hospital administration for a communication or records error

An experienced Chandler surgical error lawyer will investigate the circumstances of your case to determine the liable party.

What Damages Can I Recover In a Surgical Error Case In Chandler?

In a medical malpractice claim, “damages” are the financial, physical, and emotional consequences of a serious injury or wrongful death. Damages can add up quickly when the death results from a preventable medical malpractice injury, such as a surgical error. A successful claim recovers common medical malpractice damages such as the following:

• Reimbursement for medical expenses
• Future medical costs, including for further procedures, physical therapy, and other healthcare related to the surgical error
• Out-of-pocket injury expenses
• Lost earnings
• Future income loss or diminished future earning capacity
• Compensation for pain and suffering
• Compensation for catastrophic injury, such as loss of limb, organ loss, loss of one of the senses, scarring, or disfigurement

If you lost a loved one due to a surgical error in Chandler, a close family member, such as a spouse, parent, or child, may recover wrongful death compensation under Arizona’s medical malpractice law.

How Can a Chandler Medical Malpractice Lawyer Help My Surgical Error Case?

Proving medical malpractice occurred in a surgical error case requires substantial evidence of the at-fault party’s liability and a careful calculation of your damages. A Chandler surgical error lawyer does the following:

• Handles all communication and interactions with the insurance company
• Conducts an in-depth investigation into all aspects of surgical error
• Determines the correct liable party
• Consults with medical experts to document evidence of the surgical error and the impacts of the medical malpractice on your life
• Carefully calculates the past and future economic losses expected from the injury and determines an amount of compensation for pain, suffering, and catastrophic injury
• Presents their findings to the at-fault provider’s medical malpractice insurance company
• Negotiates with the insurance company to recover the maximum compensation available in a low-conflict settlement, or
• Takes your case to court if the insurance company fails to offer an acceptable settlement for your losses

If your surgical error case requires court, your Phoenix medical malpractice attorney will conduct a well-executed strategy for the maximum jury award for your damages.

Contact Knapp & Roberts About Your Chandler Surgical Error Case

Few experiences are as devastating as awakening from surgery only to find that a doctor’s error or surgical negligence caused you serious harm. While no legal process erases the injury, you have the right to demand financial accountability through a medical malpractice claim against the at-fault party. 

Call or contact Knapp & Roberts online about your Chandler surgical error case.