(845) 802-0047Injuries After Surgery? Kingston Medical Malpractice Lawyer Explains Injuries from Post-Operative Care
For almost everyone, surgery is a stressful event in your life. Whether it is a brief surgery to remove tonsils, an emergency to remove an appendix, a large surgery like a spinal fusion, or anything in between, surgery is tough. Once you leave the surgery and the surgeon and surgical team believe everything is good and you are ready for post-operative care, that is a beacon of hope and light at the end of the tunnel as your recovery starts. However, as a Kingston medical malpractice lawyer I know that post-operative mistakes after surgery can cause significant damage and even wrongful death to a patient.
This is the most important time for a surgical team and a hospital or surgical office’s post-operative care unit to guard you health. For instance, here are three post-op care mistakes which could result in serious personal injuries or the wrongful death of a patient due to New York medical malpractice:
1. Failing to identify bleeding – Some post-operative bleeding is always common, but that does not mean that all bleeding is common. Certain post-operative injuries and bleeding could be a sign of a larger issue. Large amounts of bleeding at also dangerous and could mean that there are significant injuries or damage to a person’s surgical site or to their body. Post-op nurses, or PACU nurses, need to identify bleeding and alert the surgeon or physician on call immediately.
2. Improper pain management – After a surgery a patient will be receiving pain medications. Sometimes this is morphine. The use of morphine is dangerous because that drug is very powerful. This means that mistakes with morphine could cause permanent damage due to its caustic nature, including damage to organs, the brain, and nerves. In addition, PCA pumps can also cause very serious personal injuries when they malfunction. PACU and post-op staff but monitor this as well.
3. Breathing troubles – Anesthesia can affect breathing. Patients must be monitored for changes in their breathing and that their O2 saturation levels are acceptable. The failure to do so can obviously lead to serious injuries or wrongful death.
Our Kingston medical malpractice lawyer will hold victims who fail to protect patients in post-op liable for their mistakes and the victim’s injuries. Shouldn’t they be liable? ABSOLUTELY! 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.