Can You Sue for Complications After Surgery?

Surgery places a patient in a vulnerable position, lying unconscious on the operating table while a surgical team performs a procedure with their patient’s literal life in their hands. Medical ethics laws require providers, including surgeons, to perform at the medical community’s accepted standard of care.

Surgical care does not stop after the closing stitches. Instead, a patient who has undergone surgery requires skilled post-surgical care and careful monitoring.

When a surgical error or post-surgical negligence causes harm to a patient, a medical malpractice lawsuit can help them recover their losses and bring a sense of justice.

Common Post-Surgical Complications In Medical Malpractice Claims

Not all undesirable outcomes from surgery constitute medical malpractice, but when a surgeon, member of the surgical staff, or post-operative care team acts negligently, or fails to take the reasonable measures another provider in a similar situation would have, it’s medical malpractice. An alarming study reports that as many as one in every three surgical patients experiences a complication caused by medical errors.

The following complications sometimes arise after surgery due to medical negligence:

• Internal bleeding/hemorrhaging
• Post-surgical infections
• Blood clots, including dangerous pulmonary embolisms
• Sepsis (the body’s hyper-stimulated reaction to infection, which can cause massive cellular inflammation, organ shut-down, and death if not promptly and aggressively treated)
• Lacerations or punctures to nearby organs
• Nerve damage
• Surgical tools or gauze left inside the body cavity

In some cases, failure to recognize a surgical error or complication in a timely manner worsens the outcome of the medical malpractice.

How Do I Sue For Surgical or Post-Operative Medical Malpractice?

If you suspect you have been injured or suffered a worsened medical outcome due to preventable post-surgical complications, it’s crucial to take immediate steps to protect yourself by doing the following:

• First, obtain a copy of your medical records from the facility, including the surgical notes and post-operative care chart
• Undergo a complete medical assessment by a trusted physician who is unrelated to the hospital, surgical center, or other facility where you had the surgery, and show them your medical report from the surgery
• Carefully follow your trusted doctor’s treatment plan to mitigate or minimize the harm caused by the complication
• Save copies of all medical bills and receipts for related expenses
• Call a skilled medical malpractice lawyer with experience in post-surgical complications resulting from medical malpractice
• Direct all interactions with the defendant, their attorney, and their medical malpractice insurance company to your lawyer

Most reputable Chicago medical malpractice lawyers do not charge upfront fees. Instead, you can expect a free consultation during which the attorney evaluates the merits of your claim, and you assess the attorney’s qualifications, trial-readiness, and recent results in cases similar to your own.

Then, your medical malpractice attorney works on a contingency-fee basis to recover compensation for your medical expenses, lost earnings, pain, suffering, and sometimes catastrophic injury compensation. With contingency-based payment, you only pay your attorney’s fees if and when they’ve recovered compensation for your losses. This allows a medical malpractice victim to seek the compensation they deserve at no upfront cost to them.