Surgical Negligence Claims

Specialist Surgical Negligence Solicitors

Surgical errors are thankfully rare – but that is little comfort to the unfortunate few who do suffer pain, injury and loss as a result of avoidable mistakes and errors at the hands of surgeons.

Sometimes it is not the actual surgery itself that leads to the problem, such as:

Delays to surgical procedures – Some surgery is more time sensitive than others. If your own surgery is delayed, either due to a misdiagnosis or an unreasonable delay by your GP or hospital, then what could have and should have been a routine and minor issue can become something far more serious.

Consent issues – All surgery carries risks, that is generally recognised. The question is were you fully informed of all of the risks, and did you agree to the surgery going ahead despite them?

Hospital infections and aftercare – In other cases it may not be the surgery itself that presents the problem but more the cleanliness of the hospital environment or perhaps the lack of post operative care to wounds or dressings.

At other times however it may well be that the issue is far more directly and obviously linked to the actual surgery itself:

Anaesthesia errors – Giving too little so that a patient wakes up during a procedure of giving too much leading to organ/brain damage.

Leaving items in a patient’s body – Strict protocols are in place to make sure that every piece of equipment – scalpels, scissors, swabs, etc – are accounted for at the end of surgery but that still doesn’t stop mistakes happening unfortunately.

‘Wrong site surgery’ – Sometimes, be it due to mixed up medical records, incompetence or just fatigue, perfectly healthy organs or limbs can be removed instead of those that were intended.

Nerve damage/other internal damage – Surgery is an extremely skilled and intricate practice, carefully navigating our bodies in order to repair or remove the cause of illness. Sometimes other parts of the body can be damaged in the process. While that in itself may not necessarily be negligent (this could be where consent issues arise), if such damage is not identified and rectified then a clinical negligent case may be appropriate.

The above are common examples of issues we at Satchell Moran are asked to help with and it is not intended to be a definitive list of all problems we can assist with. If you feel that you may have suffered negligence due to a surgical procedure, then contact us now and see if we can help you get the compensation you need and deserve, on a strictly no win no fee basis.