Personal Injury Law

Doctors Leaves Piece of Surgical Equipment in Patient

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Justice Daily News Flash reported last week on an example of an obvious doctor mistake. An investigation was launched by the state department of health following surgical mistake at a Rhode Island hospital.

A patient underwent surgery at the local hospital earlier this summer. Following the procedure, diagnostic imaging revealed that part of a drill bit had been left inside the patient?s body in the operation. Luckily, the drill was removed the next day, and the negligent surgeon and employees were suspended. In many cases, including many reported on this blog, failure to remove all equipment following surgery involves severe pain and medical complications for the patient.

All doctors and other medical professionals are typically required to abide by very specific procedures in surgical operations to avoid this type of mistake. All equipment and supplies used in medical procedures (specifically those in surgeries) need to be accounted for before the procedure is completed. Failure to abide by this logical check-list style safety procedure is an obvious breach of care.

Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Levin & Perconti have devoted decades to helping the victims of all sorts of medical mistakes. The types of hospitals errors vary in many ways. At times the mix-up is obvious to anyone?like leaving a device in a patient as happened in this case. However, in most cases the doctor error involves a more complicated series of deviations from that standard of care that a reasonable doctor would provide in the circumstances. To understand whether that deviation occurred in most circumstances requires investigation of previous cases and doctor actions as well as discussions with experts who understand what care should be provided.

Any time that you have had complications following medical care, please contact a medical malpractice attorney to share your story. In that way you can learn what possible legal options exist and then make a decision about how to proceed.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on October 16, 2010 (boomark / email).