WRONG-SITE SURGERIES
"[A]s often as 40 times a week in the United States, patients come out of surgery to learn that their doctor operated on the wrong body part, did the wrong procedure or mixed them up with another patient,"
reported the Chicago Sun-Times.
40 times a week! Seriously? Come on! Errors like this, also known as "wrong-site surgeries," are unnecessary and easily preventable. The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare undertook enforcing a universal protocol to prevent wrong-site surgeries nearly ten years ago. The protocol "includes taking simple precautions such as marking the surgical site and taking a timeout before the first incision to make sure the right patient is getting the right procedure."
Why then do innocent patients continue to fall victim to wrong-site surgeries? The Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll have learned firsthand that medical care providers perform surgeries on patients with inaccurate or incomplete documentation, while others become distracted in the operating room. Some use the wrong pen to mark an incision site, causing a wrong-site surgery. Unapproved pen marks may wash away before surgery, leaving the surgeon without a precise incision point. Sad, yes! Sad, but true!!
It is vital that surgeons and surgical staff follow standardized safety procedures during each and every surgery.
You may be eligible to file a medical malpractice lawsuit if a health care provider performed a wrong-site surgery on you or someone you love.
The medical malpractice attorneys at the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll have recovered million-dollar settlements and verdicts on behalf of our clients in medical malpractice lawsuits, including a $10 million annuity expected to yield more than $54 million for a child who suffered brain damage during birth when a physician failed to perform a timely cesarean section, and a $2.5 million settlement for the death of a 49-year-old woman following improper post-operative care at a Chicago hospital.
At the Law Offices of Jeffrey J. Kroll, we will take into account the circumstances of your case and help you decide whether to file a medical malpractice claim. Contact us at (312) 676-7222, or fill out our contact form to set up a personal consultation.
