As we mentioned earlier this week on our blog, patients have a right to be informed about the risks and dangers of any surgical operation. This allows patients to make educated decisions regarding their health and to make any necessary preparations in the event that a complication does occur during or after surgery.
However, if medical negligence contributes to a serious or fatal surgical error, a patient also has a right to be informed about what went wrong during his or her operation. A doctor’s mistake during an operation not only could cause a patient to suffer additional health problems, but a mistake could also lead to more costly and painful surgeries to fix the error. A victim of medical malpractice should not have to suffer additional pain, but the patient also should not be financially responsible for a doctor’s mistake.
Two years ago, an Illinois woman had a surgical operation performed on her abdomen. Although the surgery was considered routine, a medical malpractice lawsuit that was filed after the operation stated that the doctor who performed the surgery did not follow routine surgical procedures when operating on the woman.
According to the patient’s lawsuit, the doctor punctured the woman’s aorta during the operation because the surgeon had failed to follow procedures that could have prevented the mistake from happening. The punctured aorta caused the woman to lose a significant amount of blood, and doctors had to perform another operation on the woman in order to fix the surgical error.
The woman’s lawsuit states that she continues to experience pain from the incident. The patient and her husband are seeking $200,000 in damages to cover medical expenses, loss of consortium and loss of enjoyment in life as a result of the doctor’s error.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Woman says aorta was punctured during routine surgery,” Andrea Dearden, April 23, 2012
