Surgeries are among the most sensitive medical procedures. It is an invasive medical treatment performed by highly trained specialists in a sterile and controlled environment. Surgeons need the utmost concentration and a high level of skill in performing these procedures because they are using instruments to “enter” a patient’s body to fix or remove the cause of the disease, such as a cyst or a tumor.
While most surgeries go well and leave patients with improved medical outcomes, errors may happen. Surgical errors may cause extensive harm and lifelong complications. Below are three of the most common surgical errors:
Wrong patient surgeries
Wrong patient surgeries, as the name suggests, happen when doctors perform scheduled operations on the wrong patient. This might sound like a trivial surgical error, but it happens. This may happen when, for example, a surgeon has several procedures lined up in a day. They might, through their own negligence, switch up the surgeries and perform the wrong procedures on the wrong people.
Wrong procedure surgeries
A wrong procedure surgery is exactly what it sounds like – occurring when a patient goes in for surgery and the surgeon performs the wrong procedure. Just like wrong patient surgeries, doctors and hospital teams can prevent this from happening if they are more careful and thorough with scheduling and ensure that there is absolutely no confusion with the patients and the procedures. Intensive pre-surgical preparations may be the key to preventing such mistakes from happening.
Wrong-site surgeries
Unlike the first two errors mentioned, when wrong-site surgeries happen, patients receive the correct surgical procedure but on the wrong body parts. A patient may need an operation on their left arm, but the surgeon erroneously performs it on their right arm. This surgical error subjects patients to unnecessary procedures, leaving their conditions untreated.
Surgical mistakes can subject patients to unnecessary pain and suffering. These mistakes may also delay treatment, which can be crucial to a patient’s recovery. Victims of surgical errors may file a personal injury claim. An experienced attorney can help guide you through the process.