Some types of operations are relatively common, but from the patient’s point of view there’s nothing routine about internal surgery. Every case brings its own issues and risks.
A recently filed medical malpractice lawsuit helps illustrate how even a relatively common type of surgical operation can go very wrong.
Appendectomy gone wrong
The case involves a man who says he was badly injured due to the negligence of surgeons when they were trying to remove his appendix. He has sued the two surgeons and the university hospital where the operation was performed.
According to the man’s lawsuit, during the surgery the two doctors were unable to locate his appendix. In the act of looking for it, he says they injured his colon. He says, when he awoke, he was in worse pain than before the surgery. He developed peritonitis and an abdominal infection. Doctors ordered a CT scan, which confirmed that his appendix had not been removed.
Two days after the first surgery, the man underwent a second operation to remove the appendix and address the other issues. Altogether, the man says he has had four surgeries to correct the problems, has lost 40 pounds and spent 53 days in the hospital.
Worsened condition
An important element of many medical malpractice lawsuits is the documentation of a worsened condition. A plaintiff must show that, because of the defendant’s negligence, they were left in a worse condition than they would have otherwise suffer.
This isn’t always easy to do. In many such cases, the patient was already suffering some sort of health condition before they sought medical care. Thus, they must separate the damages they suffered due to negligence from the damages they suffered due to their health condition.
Professionals with experience in medical malpractice law can help injured patients and their families to understand how to calculate their damages.