Busy Operating Rooms Report more Surgical Errors

A busy hospital operating room presents the potential for surgical errors. Patients trust they will leave the hospital completely intact and unharmed.

Cleveland, OH (Law Firm Newswire) December 16, 2010 – “It’s a fact of life that most hospitals perform many thousands of various surgeries to correct a variety of different problems for their patients. Those who go under the knife have a great deal of trust in the team that will be working on them and their hope, in their heart of hearts, is that things will go well; that they are not furthered harmed by the surgery. Sometimes, this hope is misplaced,” said Christopher Mellino. Mellino is a Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer of the Mellino Law Firm LLC, in Ohio.

While some problems do happen and there is no way to know they were going to happen, many of the things that go awry in surgery are the result of human error. “This is referred to as medical malpractice, and if you’ve been a victim of a surgical error, you may be eligible to claim compensation,” Mellino said.

While there are seemingly an endless number of things that can and do go wrong during surgery, there are some more common ones that are often the foundation for a med mal lawsuit. Those common mistakes include things like poor sterilization, which may lead to bacterial infection during surgery. The worst infection is staphylococcus aureus, sometimes referred to as MRSA.

The surgeon may make an incorrect incision, which is often due to being poorly trained or not having enough information. One wrong cut in the wrong place at the wrong time may cause untold problems for the patient. “You could call that inattentiveness, but that too is a common error, most often relating to the surgical team being distracted or tired. This may result in a perforated organ,” Mellino said.

Poor communication, bad communication, lack of communication; no matter what it is called, the patient may suffer as a result. If instructions aren’t clear, the surgeon may perform surgery on the wrong site or organ or even the wrong side of the patient. The consequences of this are sheer disaster if a healthy organ has been compromised and the diseased one is left in the body.

“These kinds of errors can cause unending havoc in a patient’s life and for this reason, anyone who feels they have been harmed by a doctor needs to speak to a competent Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer. If there is med mal present, you are entitled to surgery costs, compensation for pain and suffering, therapy, rehab treatments, emotional distress and lost wages. That’s my job, to get you fair and equitable compensation,” Mellino said.

To learn more or to contact a Cleveland Medical Malpractice Lawyer or Cleveland malpractice attorney, visit http://www.christophermellino.com.

Mellino Law Firm LLC
200 Public Sq. Suite 2900
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
Call: (216) 241-1901