Legal news reports that a woman has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit as the result of a wrong site surgery. According to reports, the patient was admitted to the hospital for an operation to remove her sixth rib. However, the doctor erroneously removed the woman's seventh rib. After experiencing significant post-operative pain, an x-ray revealed that the wrong site surgery had occurred, and a second surgery was necessary. Although the surgeon claimed that he acknowledged his mistake and apologized for his error, a representative of the family denies this, and asserts that he tried to cover up his actions. According to the lawsuit, rather than admitting he removed the wrong body part, the surgeon explain that he had not "removed enough" of the sixth rib, and hence needed a subsequent surgery. The medical malpractice lawsuit is now pending seeking damages.
Wrong site surgeries – sometimes referred to as "never events" – occur more frequently than consumers believe. Further, medical malpractice ranks as the third leading cause of death. In fact, most physicians will be sued at some point in their career for malpractice. According to a survey performed by MedScape, the top cited reasons include the failure to diagnose, an unexpected outcome, and the failure to treat an ailment. The results of the errors included injuries or death during surgeries, late or misdiagnosis of cancer, in-hospital or postoperative infections, birth defects or death.
For more information or if you believe that you have suffered an injury as the result of medical malpractice, please contact the dedicated Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyers at Bostwick & Peterson, LLP for an immediate consultation.
