Personal Injury Law

Wrong-Site Surgery Could Lead to Medical Malpractice Case

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Recently, an oral surgeon at a Children?s Hospital in the northeast began surgery, only to realize a short time later that he was performing surgery on the wrong side of the patient?s mouth. The surgeon and his team were able to fix their surgical mistake with little harm done to the patient, but in many cases, surgical mistakes lead to further complications and can result in medical malpractice claims. Along with wrong-site surgery, some examples of surgical errors include: performing the wrong surgical procedure, surgical instruments left behind in the patient?s body, and even performing a procedure on the wrong patient. In order to avoid surgical errors, it is important for the surgical team to communicate with each other as well as the patient to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Read more about this recent surgical error.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on May 13, 2009 (boomark / email).