Surgical Negligence Claims

Surgical claims involving medical negligence can be traumatising to the individual who has been injured and your surgeon has a legal right to provide you with a “Duty of Care” that extends to demonstrating a competent level of medical practice. Surgical negligence claims can involve serious and often life-altering injuries that can require additional procedures to correct. You are entitled to seek compensation for your damages if you have been injured in surgery due to medical negligence on the part of your practitioner.

How Common Are Surgical Errors?
Surgical errors are happening at an increased rate, as surgeries, in general, have picked up over the last decade. All surgical procedures are heavily regulated and your surgeon must go over all the reasonable risks that can be expected from your surgical procedure. Errors can still occur even with the best medical procedures in place and recent studies have shown that medical staffs are facing an increasing number of distractions in the workplace.

Never Ever Events – Surgical Claims
The NHS uses the term “never ever events” to describe extreme surgical errors that occur due to negligence. Below are some examples of never ever surgical claims found in Scotland:

• Misplaced Feeding Tubes
• Surgery Performed on Wrong Body Part
• Wrong Surgery Performed
• Foreign Objects Left in Body
• Wrong Implants

The NHS has been keen on monitoring surgical errors and official reports have shown that 15% of all clinical negligence claims received involve orthopaedic surgery (musculoskeletal system).

How Do I Lodge a Surgical Negligence Claim?
To be successful in your claim you must prove that your injuries are the result of the negligent medical attention you received from your surgeon. This can often be a difficult matter that requires a second medical opinion from another surgeon who understands the complexity of the surgical procedure that was performed.