Phoenix Surgical Error Attorney
An operating room should function like a well-oiled machine. Surgeons and their surgical staff members should communicate well, uphold strict medical standards of care, and conduct procedures according to best healthcare practices. When someone in an operating room breaches a duty of care, the patient can suffer serious consequences.
Surgical errors can be deadly, or they can lead to serious complications that require further medical treatment and even more surgery to repair.
If you or a family member suffered harm because of an unexpected surgical error, contact Gallagher & Kennedy for a free legal consultation. Our Phoenix surgical error attorneys have the experience and resources to help you fight for justice against an at-fault surgeon or health care facility in Arizona and hold them accountable for your pain and suffering.
Call us today at 602-726-1149 or complete our online contact form to request a free consultation.
Why Clients Choose Us
- Our attorneys have recovered millions of dollars in settlements and jury awards for our clients dealing with complex medical malpractice and wrongful death
- Our lawyers not only fight for patients’ rights but also for a larger change within the health care industry to prevent future patient injuries.
- Our Phoenix medical malpractice attorneys accept cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning you will only pay if we recover compensation for you.
Why You Need a Phoenix Surgical Error Lawyer
Medical malpractice is one of the most complex practice areas in tort law. In Arizona, special statutory rules surround medical malpractice claims. It is the plaintiff’s responsibility to follow these rules while filing. For example, a plaintiff’s attorney must file a written certificate stating whether he or she believes a medical expert’s testimony will be necessary to prove the case. If so, the lawyer must file preliminary affidavits from these medical experts.
In most cases, Arizona allows plaintiffs two years from the date of the incident to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in civil court. If the patient does not discover the surgical error until later, however, the statute of limitations will not begin until the date they discovered the injury.
Navigating Arizona’s medical malpractice laws is often challenging, and you need an attorney to advise you of your rights and options and help you hold your negligent health care providers accountable. Getting help from an experienced medical malpractice attorney is in your best interest to ensure you obtain the full and fair compensation you need after suffering surgical injuries or a botched surgical procedure.
Retaining a Phoenix surgical error lawyer from Gallagher & Kennedy could allow you to focus on recovery while we handle the legwork of your surgical error claim for you.
Common Surgical Errors
No surgical error should ever occur, but unfortunately, too many surgical errors occur in Phoenix hospitals and operating rooms throughout Arizona. Medical negligence and medical malpractice cause thousands of surgical errors each year across the United States, and some surgical errors negatively impact patients more often than others.
While minor mistakes may not be noticeable to a patient, others could be detrimental to the patient’s health, safety, and recovery. Some common surgical errors that cause patients to suffer unnecessary harm include:
- Anesthesia mistakes
- Infections from lack of sanitation
- Lack of informed consent to the procedure
- Intubation errors
- Nerve damage
- Nicking an artery
- Perforating an organ
- Causing patient hemorrhage (uncontrollable bleeding)
- Retained surgical foreign bodies
Other surgical errors include wrong site surgeries, where a surgeon operates on the wrong body part, and wrong patient surgeries, where the surgeon gets patients mixed up. Also, surgeons can perform the wrong surgery on a patient, such as if the patient went if to have their appendix removed, but the surgeon removed their gall bladder instead. These types of surgical errors, as well as leaving foreign objects inside a patient, are called “never events” because they should never happen in the first place.
During your free initial consultation at Gallagher & Kennedy, our attorneys will get to know you and listen to your surgery story. We will review your case free of charge and let you know if we believe you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice.
If we decide to accept your case, we can help you gather evidence and build your claim against the surgeon and/or surgical center in Arizona. We take surgical malpractice extremely seriously, and we can fight hard for you and your family through the claims process.
What Types of Compensation Can You Receive?
Surgical errors can cause you or a family member a great deal of unnecessary harm and suffering. Many times, you will also need additional operations to fix the damage. As you receive additional medical care and treatment, you will invariably incur more medical expenses, and you may also develop complications from a surgical error, such as infections.
In dealing with your situation, you may also develop mental and emotional distress, and the ordeal could leave you with severe scarring and disfigurement. You may lose all enjoyment of life and no longer have an interest, or the ability, to engage in the activities you once enjoyed. Your injuries and suffering may also take a toll on your personal relationships, your job, and other important areas of your life.
You deserve to be compensated for all you have lost as well as the ongoing adverse effects the ordeal will have on your life and future.
In Arizona, you can recover both economic and non-economic damages to cover things like:
- Medical bills and treatment costs, including additional surgery expenses
- Prescription medication costs
- Lost wages
- Loss of future earnings
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement
- Mental anguish and emotional distress
If you have your attorney file a medical malpractice lawsuit and your case goes to court, you may also recover punitive damages. These types of damages are intended to punish the wrongdoer and send a message to others not to engage in that sort of behavior. The court usually awards punitive damages at its own discretion, and they are typically only awarded in cases where the defendant intentionally harmed the victim or acted with extreme negligence or wanton disregard for the victim’s safety. Punitive damages are usually challenging to obtain, but your attorney can advocate for you in court if they can show your surgeon or health care provider performed actions that they knew would cause you harm, or if they have a pattern of causing unnecessary harm to their patients.
Discuss Your Surgical Error Case for Free
If you or a close family member suffered injuries or harm because of a surgical error, you do not need to suffer alone, and you shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s negligence.
At Gallagher & Kennedy, our Phoenix injury attorneys have decades of experience handling complicated surgical malpractice cases. We understand the medical malpractice laws in Arizona and are passionate about protecting the rights of patients injured or killed by a surgeon’s wrongdoing or a health care provider’s negligence.
Our law firm offers free consultations, and we can meet you at your home or hospital room if you cannot make it to our office. During your meeting with a Phoenix surgical error attorney, you can get answers to your questions, and we can help you determine if you have a claim. We will explain your legal options and advise you on the best course of action, and you can trust us to work diligently to investigate the matter, gather the evidence to build a solid case, and help you get the financial recovery you need to help you through this unfortunate situation.
To request a free consultation with a Phoenix surgical errors attorney, contact our law firm today at 602-726-1149. You can also complete our online contact form, and a member of our experienced legal team will get back to you promptly.