How much is your surgeon’s error worth?

If you have ever had surgery, you probably know how scary it can be. It might be an emergency situation, or perhaps it is a last resort.

As you get wheeled into the operating room, there are certain things you probably expect from your surgeon. At the very least, you likely trust they’ll perform the correct procedure and operate on the right body part. But what happens when the surgeon makes a mistake?

Things that should never happen within the medical community

While there may be an expectation of perfection for the medical community, there can be an element of human error involved in any diagnosis or procedure. Still, there exist certain errors and incidents which should never have occurred, had healthcare providers followed proper safety procedures.

These “never events” include such egregious errors as:

• Wrong procedure performed
• Discharging an infant to the wrong parent
• Leaving an object in a patient’s body after surgery
• Operating on the wrong patient
• The death or disability of a patient due to contamination
• Operating on a patient’s wrong body part

Although such errors should never happen, they occasionally do. Such was the case for one Tennessee woman who is on dialysis due to alleged surgical error.

One patient claims over $25 million in damages

Alleging that Vanderbilt doctors operated on her wrong kidney in 2017, damaging her urinary system, causing her to undergo another surgery and resulting in her need for lifelong dialysis, one woman seeks $25.5 million in damages. And although operating on the wrong site, or wrong part of the body, is rare, such occurrences can be life-altering.

Such errors often result in additional costs of care, including further medical treatment. Although no amount of money can make up for your doctor’s mistakes, if a provider made errors during your procedure, you may be able to hold them accountable.