Kentucky Medical Malpractice: Surgical Errors (Part A)

When an individual faces surgery, no one likes to think about the potential for a surgical error to occur. Unfortunately, this form of medical malpractice in Kentucky does happen, and can lead to serious or fatal injuries.

An experienced Louisville medical malpractice attorney can help you determine whether your surgical error in Kentucky was the result of medical negligence, identify all liable parties, and help defend your rights and interests through the medical malpractice claims process.

Common Types of Surgical Errors

Although most patients trust that their doctor will perform a safe surgery, the risk of being injured because of a surgical error is always present. However, when a surgical error results from negligence that could have been prevented, the victim does have legal options to pursue compensation.

A surgical error in Kentucky can result from a variety of medical mistakes such as:

• Misidentification - misidentification occurs when a surgeon performs surgery on the wrong patient. It can also happen when a surgeon operates on the wrong side of the body or on the wrong organ/body part.
• Failure to Treat -this is the result of a doctor failing to recognize that a patient is experiencing surgical complications. Surgical complications can include internal bleeding or infection. These surgical errors can also occur when a surgeon nicks, cuts or punctures another organ but fails to recognize the mistake and treat it.
• Unnecessary Surgery - a surgeon may perform an unnecessary surgery on a patient. This could be caused by reading a chart or medical records incorrectly or the result of a surgeon failing to explore other less invasive possibilities.
• Failure to Operate - this is a circumstance where a surgeon should operate but fails to do so. This can happen when the operation is not completed quickly enough or a doctor thinks it is not needed when in fact it is. It can also occur if another healthcare provider, such as a nurse, fails to inform the doctor of changes in a patient's condition.