The principle of informed consent for surgery
Surgery is inherently risky. Even apparently simple, elective procedures are invasive and carry the risk of damage by surgical instruments, errors by surgeons and operating room personnel, and complications from the surgery itself. The wise patient takes these risks into account, deciding whether the chance that something may go wrong is worth taking.
Of course, when surgery is a requirement—the only option available to correct a health or life-threatening condition—there is really no choice. But even then, the patient has the right to be informed and to understand what risks are involved. That is called informed consent, and doctors and hospitals routinely get you to sign a form that outlines possible bad outcomes and complications before they wheel you into the operating room.
Separating acceptable surgical risks from negligent damages
However, knowing that surgeries are risky and might cause further injury in some percentage of cases does not absolve doctors and hospitals from their professional and legal responsibilities to provide a high standard of care to their surgical patients. They are expected to know what they are doing, to perform the operation competently, and to respond appropriately to complications that arise during and after the procedure.
When doctors and other hospital staff neglect their responsibilities to you in these areas related to your surgery and you suffer as a result, you may have a medical malpractice case. Some of the more common types of these cases involve:
- Incorrect incision
- Use of unsanitary surgical tools
- Delayed surgery
- Prolonged surgery
- Surgery performed on the wrong organ or side
- Organ puncture
- Surgical instruments or sponges left inside the patient
- Anesthesia errors
- Failure to make the appropriate decision during a surgical emergency
Medical malpractice attorneys in New York explain the difference
For your surgical malpractice case to be considered meritorious, which is necessary for you to obtain money damages, you must prove negligence and not just that the outcome of your operation was not what you had hoped for. You must show that those involved failed to live up to the high standards expected of them as medical professionals.
At our offices in Brooklyn, New York, we have a physician and a physician's assistant on our staff. These medical professionals review your surgical records to determine which injuries and complications should reasonably have been expected as the normal risk of the type of surgery you had and which can be traced to surgical negligence.
Contact a medical malpractice attorney in New York at Weinstein, Chase, Messinger & Peters, P.C. with questions you may have about your legal rights, or to schedule a free consultation. Even more than lawyers, we consider ourselves client counselors. Let's look ahead. Together.
The New York medical malpractice law firm of Weinstein, Chase, Messinger & Peters, P.C., in Brooklyn, New York, represents clients throughout the New York (NYC) metropolitan area, including the five boroughs: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens. The counties we serve include Suffolk County, Nassau County, Westchester County, and Putnam County.
