Surgical Error and Doctor Liability

Patients injured or suffering further medical damages due to surgical error may have grounds to make legal claims to recover damages for their losses in certain instances. However, not all surgical error claims are viable medical malpractice cases. Only a case-specific determination by a lawyer, when consulted, can determine whether a patient may be able to hold a doctor or surgeon liable for their injuries and other damages sustained as the result of surgical errors. The following article outlines how surgeons and other medical staff members may be negligent and incur liability for damage claims following a surgical error.

Establishing Surgical Error as Negligent

The crux of any successful medical malpractice claims case stemming from surgical error revolves around the patient’s ability to prove a surgical error was the result of negligence. Once a patient enters under the care of a given doctor or surgeon, the patient is owed a duty of care by the medical professional to provide medical services at or above a professional standard of care. In medical malpractice cases involving surgical error, a number of factors will influence whether or not a given surgeon provided medical care up to a professional standard of care. Surgical errors, although a negative outcome to medical procedures, may not necessarily be the result of negligence, per legal standards, in certain instances. To prove negligence, patient and their legal counsel must prove the following elements, including:

• The patient and physician relationship existed; often in cases of medical surgeries, this is simply assumed to the case, as a patient is agreeing to go under the care and supervision of a surgeon while undergoing a surgical procedure.

• The doctor or surgeon, once entering into a patient-doctor relationship, owes the patient a duty of care to perform at a standard of care.

• A doctor or surgeon making a surgical error during a procedure is in violation of the standard duty of care, if the mistake was made in a manner below the professional standard of care. In essence, patients will seek to prove, often through expert medical witness testimony, that any other competently performing physician, when faced with the exact same patient and circumstances, would have not made the surgical error.

• Should a surgical error be proven as a violation of the standard of care, the surgeon is said to be negligent.

• Any action of negligence makes a surgeon liable for damages that the negligent surgical error was the proximate cause.

Should a patient be able to prove breach of standard duty of care, negligence, negligence as the proximate cause of injuries, and real injuries and damage claims, the patient has grounds for a viable medical malpractice claim.

Getting Legal Help with Holding Doctors Liable for Surgical Errors

Medical malpractice cases are extremely complex and often contested by well-funded and experienced insurance companies, who are often the liability insurance provider of a given medical professional. These claims will require the assistance and representation of a lawyer with experience in handling surgical error cases.