Surgical negligence cases may involve the negligence of the surgeons, the nurses, the anesthesiology team and others. Common and all too frequently recurring types of surgical negligence include:
- Wrong-site surgery: Despite hospital policies requiring surgical “time outs” which are supposed to include the entire surgical teams participation in confirming the type and site of surgery, too often the wrong limb is operated on or the wrong surgery is performed. Careful analysis of surgical records and hospital policies is key in prosecuting these cases and holding all members of the surgical team responsible.
- Misplacement of surgical devices such as cardiac or vascular stents, resulting in severe complications.
- Surgical removal of internal structures without proper identification of these structures, resulting in additional surgery and lifelong complications. This commonly occurs in gallbladder and gynecological procedures.
- Perforations of bowel, bladder and other structures often result in severe complications and often goes undiagnosed, resulting in life-threatening infections and death.
