Gynecologic Surgery Errors

When a person has to have surgery, it always carries a risk of complications. However, there are many instances when the errors of the surgeon or other medical personnel cause severe harm to a patient that could have been prevented through the exercise of due care. After some surgical errors, the severe consequences may not appear for days or even weeks after the procedure when the damage is severe.

The field of gynecologic medicine regularly sees advances in procedures and techniques that are developed to improve the recovery and wellbeing of the individual undergoing the surgery. Despite the fact that these advances are very important for the health of the patient, when the surgeon or other medical practitioners are not properly trained on the new techniques, they can make devastating mistakes. Further, an otherwise qualified surgeon or medical practitioner simply might be negligent on a particular day. In addition, there can be mistakes made during the pre-operative preparation or the post-operative period. A victim of these types of errors needs a qualified medical malpractice attorney who knows how to discover how the error happened.

Mistakes leading up to a surgery may include a failure to diagnose the problem originally, misreading lab results, or failing to discover possible complicating factors, specifically including:

• A failure to detect cancer in the early stages due to a lack of proper screening;
• A failure to diagnose cancer after a woman has gone to the doctor with symptoms that otherwise would indicate a specific type of cancer;
• A failure to make a diagnosis or prescribe the right type of treatment after making a mistake in reviewing lab results, diagnostic images, or other medical data;
• A failure to discover other conditions that could impact the treatment of the medical issue for which help is being sought; and
• A failure to provide all the relevant information to the patient before having her sign an informed consent form.

A surgeon who has undertaken a specific procedure has an obligation to the patient to exercise reasonable care to perform the surgery correctly and to oversee the actions of the surgical team to ensure that they also fulfill their duties to the patient. Some common mistakes that occur during surgery include:

• Committing an error due to the surgeon’s inexperience with the specific procedure;
• Failing to provide proper oversight of the surgical team leading to a preventable mistake;
• Injuring adjacent organs during the surgery that is not corrected at the time of injury;
• Performing an unnecessary surgery; or
• Performing the surgery on the wrong site or the wrong patient – mistakes between right and left breast surgeries are more common that people might think.

Many things can go wrong after a surgery has been performed. When the patient gets the right type of care before and during the surgical process, she may believe that everything is going to be okay, but the post operative period is critical for recovery from a gynecologic surgery. Some of the problems that can develop are:

• A failure to diagnose or treat bleeding following a surgery;
• A failure to diagnose or treat an infection that develops after the operation;
• A failure to diagnose or treat an injury to a site adjacent to the surgical area that occurred during the procedure; or
• A failure to prescribe the appropriate medications following the surgery.

When a woman is faced with the decision of whether or not to have surgery for a gynecologic medical issue, it is a very difficult time that often is made easier by faith in the skills of the surgeon and surgical team. If one or more of these people make a mistake, the consequences can be tragic. The compassionate and experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Peter Thompson & Associates are ready to offer you the legal support that you need while you recover from the harm done to you. To schedule an initial consultation, call us at 800.804.2004.