Practice area
Surgical errors
Every operation carries real risks, and a known complication is not always anyone's fault. When an error was avoidable, or a problem was missed after surgery, the law may help pay for what it cost you.
What this can look like
- Surgery on the wrong side, the wrong site or the wrong patient
- A sponge, clamp or other item left inside the body
- An injury to a nearby organ, nerve or blood vessel that was not recognised and treated
- Anesthesia errors in dosing, airway management or monitoring
- Bleeding or infection after surgery that was not caught in time
- An operation done without explaining the real risks and alternatives
Known risk, or avoidable error?
The same injury can be either one. What usually decides it is what happened next. These pairs show the difference our reviewing surgeons look for.
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Bile duct injury during gallbladder surgery
Often a known risk
Can happen with careful technique.
A reason to ask for a review
The injury was not recognised for days despite fever, pain and abnormal liver tests.
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Nerve damage after a joint replacement
Often a known risk
A known risk discussed before surgery.
A reason to ask for a review
Positioning or tourniquet time well outside accepted limits, with no record of checks.
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Infection after an operation
Often a known risk
Happens even in clean, careful hospitals.
A reason to ask for a review
Signs of infection recorded by nurses but not passed on or acted on for a day or more.
Left column: often a known risk. Right column: a reason to ask for a review.
What the law asks you to show
All four must be true. Most cases are decided by the third one.
- 1.Duty
- The surgeon, anesthesia team and hospital owed you care during and after the operation.
- 2.Breach
- A surgeon in the same specialty would say the technique, decision or follow-up fell below the accepted standard.
- 3.Causation
- That failure, not the illness that led to surgery, caused the injury or made it worse.
- 4.Harm
- The injury led to more surgery, lasting damage, lost work or other real losses.
Who reviews it
Independent experts who do not work with the providers involved. We pay their fees.
- A board-certified surgeon in the same specialty
- An anesthesiologist when sedation or airway care is involved
- A post-operative nursing expert for monitoring after surgery
Records that help
You do not need these before you call. With your permission, we request them.
- Operative report and anesthesia record
- Signed consent form
- Recovery room and floor nursing notes
- Imaging and lab results after surgery
- Discharge instructions and follow-up visit notes
Deadlines can be short
Deadlines often start on the date of surgery, but some states start the clock when you discovered, or should have discovered, the injury. A retained object can have its own rule. Rules differ by state.
Deadlines, explainedQuestions we hear
I signed a consent form. Can I still have a case?
Often, yes. A consent form covers the risks that were explained to you. It does not give permission for careless technique or for ignoring a problem afterward.
The surgeon told me it was a known complication. Should I believe that?
Maybe. Many complications are exactly that. An independent surgeon reading the operative report and the notes from the days afterward can tell you whether it was handled the way it should have been.
Other practice areas
Tell us what happened. We will tell you the truth about it.
A free, confidential review by our nurse and an independent physician. If we do not believe it was malpractice, we will say so and explain why.