Surgery mistakes can result in a wide array of injuries; some may be minor damages that do not have any prominent effects while others can lead to permanent consequences. The more severe the results of the surgery, the likelier it is that you will receive a large settlement. However, in order to receive fair compensation, you will have to enlist the services of an experienced attorney; fighting a surgery malpractice case by yourself is extremely difficult and it may cost you a lot of time, energy, and money that you simply do not have. Our attorneys at Normandie Law Firm are here to help you win your lawsuit. Many times, clients will call us asking about surgery malpractice cases and what the best route is to victory. They say “the surgeon injured me” and wonder what they can do about it; some of the questions they pose to us include:
- How much is a surgical operation malpractice case worth?
- How much can you get for a surgeon’s negligence that injured you?
- How much can you receive if a surgeon injured you?
- How much money can you get for a surgery malpractice lawsuit?
- How much does a surgeon mistake injury case typically settle for?
Surgical Malpractice Information
Going into surgery can be a frightening experience. Although it is expected that the doctors handling surgeries are very skilled and adept at their jobs, there is always the possibility of human error. The mistakes that surgeons can make are correspondingly huger because of their responsibilities; a layman’s error could merely cause an inconvenience, but the error of a surgeon could lead to permanent injuries or even death.
You may need to go into surgery because of a disease or sickness that requires treatment, which can be set up at a future date; you may be rushed to the emergency room because of internal injuries and broken bones after an accident, like a car crash; you may need surgery to remove a benign mass or cyst; or you may opt for some kind of corrective surgery, like visual or cosmetic. There are times when a surgeon has ample time to prepare for the operation, but others require spur of the moment actions and decisions with no knowledge of your history. In either case, it is expected that the surgeon do his due diligence and work to preserve your health, not create additional issues.
Here are some examples of how surgical malpractice occurs:
- Wrong Procedure: There are times when the surgeon may perform the wrong surgery altogether. For example, if he is tasked with removing an appendix but removes a gallbladder, he could be held accountable for ensuing problems. While patients are being prepped for surgery, charts may get mixed up, resulting in two different surgeries being performed that may have nothing to do with one another. If the surgeon did the wrong surgery, you may be able to sue the ER if the charts were wrong or sue the hospital if it had a part in the error.
- Mistaken Amputation: Usually, amputations do not occur out of the blue; there is a reason for the amputation to be the final decision, such as a lingering infection and necrosis or gangrene. That is to say, a surgeon will not just go in and sever a limb without considering other options. However, in some cases, a surgeon may mistakenly amputate the wrong limb or digit; this often happens with chart mix ups and inattention by the surgeon.
- Incision Error: Surgery is a very delicate task. The many sections of the body have numerous fragile areas, and a surgeon could easily snip a nerve while going about his duties. This loss of a nerve could lead to numbness, loss of feeling, loss of mobility, lingering nerve pain, and more. Further, surgeons may make incisions on other organs or parts of the body that could lead to internal bleeding or hemorrhages.
- Anesthesia Mistake: Surgeons and operating room technicians often use general anesthesia to put patients under while they perform surgery, or they may administer local anesthetics that numb an area. The doctor may not give you a high enough dosage, resulting in you having sensation during surgery, which can be a traumatizing experience. A nurse or operating room technician may make a mistake like this; you may be able to sue the nurse for such an error.
Other examples include failed bile duct surgery, failed open heart surgery, unsuccessful shoulder surgery, failed gastric bypass surgery, failed cosmetic surgery, and more. Generally, the type of surgery you receive will not be the large factor in determining what your claim might be worth; the effects of the malpractice will be a better indicator.
For more information on the average court settlement for failed surgery claims against a doctor or hospital, call one of our attorneys today.
Requirements for Malpractice
In order for you to sue the doctor for surgical malpractice, you must be able to prove a few points as true. You must have been in a doctor/patient relationship with the doctor. If you scheduled a surgery ahead of time, you will be in such a relationship, but setting an appointment and being checked up on and treated is not the only way to be in the relationship – you may also be rushed to the hospital and unable to consent to surgery, but the relationship will be implicit once the doctor sets out to help you.
You must then show that the doctor breached his duty of care in treating you. This can be proven with the assistance of other doctors and healthcare professionals who will testify whether or not the surgeon acted in a way they would under the same circumstances; if the majority of doctors agree that the decisions and actions of the surgeon were out of the ordinary, you will have a strong case.
Further, an incident must have happened which then resulted in physical harm. While under the knife or in the operating room, a surgeon may need to remove an organ or sew up a wound. There can be side effects, such as internal bleeding or damage to surrounding body parts, but unless these damages are egregious and outside of the realm of healing, you likely will not be able to sue. If the damages were also not particularly severe – a few cuts from a scalpel, for example, in the wrong area – you might not have any grounds either. You must have suffered real injuries that had an impact.
The impact of these injuries will be one of the primary factors in the amount of compensation for your lawsuit. Call a lawyer to learn more about surgery error injury average settlement values.
Average Value of a Surgery Malpractice Case
The case worth for a surgical operation gone wrong injury lawsuit can be determined by the severity of your injuries and the impact they have on your life and career. An insurance adjuster will determine how much your injuries are worth and also factor in other expenses, such as medical bills and lost wages. Our job is to bring you more than the average case value of an emergency room medical malpractice case; we aim to bring you the maximum amount available under the law.
The average settlement value of hospital malpractice lawsuits varies. When cases settle for millions of dollars, it increases the average; the median is usually more reflective of what you can earn. However, that does not mean that we do not strive for bringing you as much as possible. Below, we have included some sample botched surgery lawsuit settlement amounts that can indicate what is possible for you to earn. If your case is similar, you may have a benchmark to judge the potential for your settlement offer
Some surgery malpractice settlement amounts are:
- $950,000 Verdict: A woman required a gastrostomy tube because of multiple sclerosis problems inhibiting her ability to swallow. The surgeon attempted to reinsert the tube for hours, sometimes using force to do so; he eventually causes damages like sepsis and peritonitis. The doctor further did not seek consent from her husband to continue the surgery.
- $840,000 Verdict: An elderly woman was in the process of having an angioplasty and a stent put in for heart troubles. During the procedure, the surgeon pierced an artery with the wire, leading to cardiac arrest and her death. Her family filed a wrongful death claim.
- $1,400,000 Verdict: A woman discovers she has a cyst on her ovary which a surgeon recommends to be removed. As she is undergoing surgery, the doctor removes the wrong ovary and alters her medical records to show that the complaints were of her opposite side. He does not inform the patient of the mistake and he does not remove the cyst. The woman sues and wins after the doctor was unable to show that he was not negligent. Keep in mind that these surgery malpractice settlements and verdicts are not guarantees.
Surgical malpractice cases sometimes may not be in excess of a $250,000, and the average value of a doctor negligence injury lawsuit is much lower than most law firms claim. Regardless, you will not only need to have all of your evidence in order, but also a competent lawyer who can see to it that the adjuster is being fair in his offer.
Second Opinion for Your Lawsuit
Often, clients who come to us with questions about the average settlement amounts for surgeon error negligence lawsuits already have legal representation. They are curious if their current attorneys are doing all they can to bring them fair compensation. Unfortunately, many lawyers sign up numerous cases and try to get quick settlements for low amounts so that they can move on to other lawsuits and repeat the process.
We will give you a second opinion on your case to determine if your lawyer is trying to rush your case. If you can earn more, we will tell you. You may be able to earn more than the average payout for a hospital mistake injury case. We will also tell you if we believe your lawyer is doing all he can to represent you; if we believe he is not, we will recommend other courses of action.
Choose Normandie
With the help of our attorneys, you can be well on your way to receiving the maximum restitution available for your injuries stemming from a surgical error. We will do all we can to bring you more than the average case value for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Our aggressive lawyers will negotiate with the insurance adjusters to ensure that you are not being taken advantage of, and if we need to, we will take your case to court. We will work to secure you coverage for your medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering (capped at $250,000 in such cases), and more.
Call our Los Angeles law offices to schedule a free legal consultation with an expert attorney. If you have any questions about your case or what the average settlement amount for an emergency room negligence case is, don’t hesitate to ask. We are happy to give you the answers you need. We will also tell you about our zero fee guarantee, which promises that you will not have to pay any out of pocket expenses for our representation – we only get paid if we win your case (with our fees coming from the settlement we win for you), and if we lose, you owe us nothing at all.
Get in touch with a top-rated lawyer at Normandie Law Firm for more help with your surgery malpractice lawsuit.
