A common first reaction to the news that a surgeon committed surgery on the wrong side or the wrong part of the body is disbelief — quickly followed by outrage, indignation or even fear. Are surgeons so overworked that they do not pay attention to the X-rays or CT scan images before cutting into a patient? In some cases, yes. In other cases, some fluke or freak occurrence takes place, perhaps because a doctor was in a hurry, patients’ records got mixed up or a patient who was asked to mark his own surgical site did not understand instructions.
There may be an explanation. However, a surgeon’s hurried schedule is not a good reason for performing wrong site surgery. Wrong site surgery is a clear sign of negligence — and you most likely deserve compensation if it happened to you.
No matter how many patients a surgeon sees in one day, he or she and the surgical team owe each patient the utmost care. What was the cause of your turn for the worse after a hospital stay in New York? Surgical error? Attorneys at Dankner Milstein, P.C., are available to evaluate your potential surgical mistake and medical malpractice case and advise you of your options.
Are you justified in believing that you deserve to have corrective surgery paid for? Discuss this question with an experienced medical malpractice attorney. A surgical error of this type probably means you will need another operation to right the wrong. At the very least, it is understandable for you to expect that the surgeon and the hospital should not charge you for any further medical treatment needed to correct the harm caused by wrong site surgery.
But what about your pain and suffering? What about your lost wages and perhaps your spouse’s lost wages as he or she cares for you longer than planned? Worst of all, what if corrective surgery will not and cannot correct the mistake? There is no way to replace a healthy kidney, breast, testicle or ovary if a doctor removed the wrong one.
Even if a wrong site surgery case seems to signal a clear-cut injury claim against a surgeon and/or a clinic or hospital, we urge you not to attempt to act as your own lawyer in this case. An experienced lawyer can watch out for your rights and help ensure that you receive all compensation that is due to you, in a timely manner.
