Articles Posted in Surgical Errors

Imagine going in for back surgery but leaving the hospital without a kidney. Unfortunately, this is what happened to one woman and, sadly, represents the life-changing magnitude of medical errors that patients sometimes have to deal with. If you have been hurt due to a surgeon’s negligence, our experienced Baltimore medical malpractice attorneys can help you hold the at-fault medical professional accountable. With years of experience, we will help protect your rights and aim to get you the compensation you deserve.

A surgeon from Florida took out a woman’s healthy kidney when she was undergoing back surgery in 2016 because he mistakenly believed that the kidney was a cancerous tumor. The woman had been suffered back pain following a car accident and was slated to go through anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery, in which troublesome vertebrae in a person’s spine are fused together into a single larger bone. During the procedure, the physician noticed a pelvic mass and made a presumptive diagnosis of cancer and decided to remove the mass entirely. It turned out the mass was not a cancerous tumor at all, but the woman’s kidney. The woman filed a lawsuit against the surgeon, which was recently settled. The terms of the settlement agreement were not disclosed.

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If you or someone close to you has suffered an injury due to a surgical error, our Baltimore surgery malpractice lawyers will provide effective and experienced legal representation to you every step of the way. We strive to hold negligent medical providers accountable for their errors and misconduct. We know that dealing with a medical injury can be daunting and it can be hard to know what to do next. We strongly believe that the best thing to do is to get advice from a lawyer who can help you figure out how to proceed.

D.K., a woman from Iowa, is suing her physician after he supposedly took out her kidney when he was supposed to remove her adrenal gland during a surgical procedure in 2016. The adrenal glands are endocrine glands that produce a variety of hormones including adrenaline and cortisol. They are found above the kidneys. D.K.’s lawsuit claims that the doctor mistakenly took out her functioning right kidney as opposed to the adrenal gland and a mass that had formed on top of it. She says she was not told until seven days after the surgery that the surgeon “did not get everything” and would have to undergo a second procedure. The second procedure was later conducted. D.K. now says she is suffering numerous adverse health consequences as a result.

Liability for Surgical Errors

While the aforementioned case is not a Maryland case, it is still relevant to people in every state, as botched surgeries routinely injure and kill patients across the country. Surgical mistakes can lead to debilitating conditions and, in the most serious cases, death. If you believe your harm was the result of the result of a surgeon’s error or misconduct, you may be able to recover compensation through a medical malpractice claim. Medical malpractice, in the context of surgery errors, occurs when a surgeon’s conduct falls below the accepted standards of care as compared to a reasonably competent surgeon performing the same surgery thereby causing injury or death to the patient.

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When people go to a surgery center to have a procedure done, they expect the safety of a hospital. Unfortunately, they do not always get that. Surgery centers differ vastly when it comes to resources and oversight and this often impacts the level of care patients receive. If you have been injured or someone you know has died during or after a procedure at a surgery center, you need to reach out to a seasoned Baltimore surgery malpractice attorney as soon as possible. At Arfaa Law Group, we are dedicated to protecting the rights of Maryland medical malpractice victims.

A recent investigation conducted by the USA Today Network and Kaiser Health News found that 17 states have no mandate to report patient deaths after surgery center care. As such, no facility oversight authority has scrutinized whether the deaths were a statistical irregularity or cause for concern.

Essentially, the report discovered that surgery centers operate under such an inconsistent mix of rules and regulations across the United States that death or serious injuries can result in no warning being issued to government officials, much less to potential patients. The lack of oversight allows centers hit with tough federal sanctions to keep operating. In fact, no rule stops a surgeon fired from a hospital for any wrongdoing from opening his or her own surgery center nearby. This gap in oversight continues even as the nation’s 5,600 surgery centers have surpassed hospitals in number and taken on increasingly difficult surgeries.

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Distracted doctoring is a growing patient safety issue that can jeopardize patient health. While smartphones can undoubtedly offer improved communication and quick data access for medical professionals, these devices can also be a distraction. If you or someone close to you has suffered harm due to distracted doctoring, you may be entitled to compensation for your harm. At Arfaa Law Group, our highly skilled Baltimore medical malpractice team can help you navigate these challenging cases.

A doctor engages in “distracted doctoring” when he or she takes attention away from a patient. As doctors use more devices, the potential for distraction grows. In fact, it has become more and more common for medical professionals to be texting, surfing the Internet and even posting on Facebook while busy in surgery. Consider the following. In a 2010 peer-reviewed survey of 439 medical practitioners involved in performing cardiopulmonary bypasses, more than 50 percent admited to using a cellphone during the procedure. Specifically, nearly half acknowledged sending text message and nearly a quarter reported to accessing email while performing the surgery.

In addition to affecting individual efficiency, smartphones can also interfere with highly technical medical equipment. These devices can introduce viruses and bacteria into the space, which can pose infection hazards. To minimize some of these risks, some medical facilities have chosen to limit the use of electronic devices in certain settings.

Surgical errors can have devastating consequences for a patient and his or her family. In the worst cases, these errors can lead to a patient’s death. When surgeons cause preventable harm, they may be liable for malpractice. If you believe that you or someone close to you was injured by a surgeon’s mistake or carelessness, we can help. At Arfaa Law Group, our diligent Baltimore surgical malpractice attorneys can scrutinize the facts of your case and decide the feasibility of your claim.

In Barbosa v. Osbourne, a Maryland high court recently held that a patient’s mistreatment of himself or herself prior to seeking medical care cannot later serve as a physician’s defense against a malpractice claim. In other words, the pre-treatment conduct of a patient is irrelevant in determining whether a physician is liable for violating the standard of care in rendering medical services to that patient.

The facts of the case are as follows. The plaintiffs filed a medical malpractice case against the defendant physician, claiming that the doctor negligently cut the plaintiff’s bile duct while surgically removing his inflamed gallbladder. As a defense, the defendant invoked the plaintiff’s supposed contributory negligence in failing to seek treatment for his severe abdominal pains in a timely manner. The court ultimately concluded that since the plaintiff’s alleged negligence preceded any medical treatment that the plaintiff received from the doctor, the defendant’s contributory negligence defense had no basis in the law.

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