Botched Surgeries Caused By Medical Malpractice

Sawbones, white coat, scalpel jockey, quack, butcher, and croaker are all slang names for surgeons and doctors. These terms exist for a reason. Of course, they are humorous even though some doctors may disdain the words. Either way, the nicknames exist because the medical and surgical professions have seen their fair share of negligent doctors; surgeons that have made mistakes and botched surgeries.

The experienced Kingston medical malpractice attorney knows that doctors and surgeons like to minimize mistakes, deny them, and or downright refuse to tell patients about surgical errors. The medical profession itself and the laws of New York State do not require medical professionals to admit their wrongdoings.

With that said, when medical mistakes are discovered, the doctor of a botched surgery can be held liable for the victim’s losses. The laws surrounding medical malpractice litigation are complex and it can be hard to explain to the common Joe. But it is not impossible.

Basically, surgeons are supposed to do their jobs in a certain way; the profession lays out the rules. But mistakes are made by doing something wrong; something that another surgeon would never have done under the circumstances.

Then it can be said that the surgeon was negligent. But not all mistakes lead to a patient’s injury; in the end, sometimes the patient was no worse off because of the doctor’s error. In these circumstances, the patient will not be able to collect money from the surgeon.

In other cases, the botched surgery does cause harm. The patient has more pain, more suffering, and longer recovery times. There may be a need for more surgery to correct the surgeon’s mistake. Other times, the mistake cannot be fixed; the patient is left permanently injured. Unfortunately, some patients are killed by the doctor’s mistake.

The surgeon messes up, and he should not have. The mistake causes the patient to be injured. In order for the plaintiff to have a valid claim against the surgeon, the patient’s injuries must have caused “damages”. “Damages” refers to the money lost to the injury and other things such as pain and suffering.

All of the above can be quantified into dollar amounts. Economic losses like lost wages, lost earning potential, the cost of long term care and medical bills are added in. The figure on the bottom line is what the injured patient is entitled to. But that entitlement and everything else must be proven in a court of law.

The suit may take a very long time to complete. However, most suits end in settlement. The important thing for the injured patient to know is that botched surgeries and medical mistakes can be a matter of negligence; surgeons can be held accountable for this.

But what do you think? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com. You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.