Residents in and around Philadelphia rely on trained medical professionals to perform necessary surgeries. Unfortunately, there are times when the careless or negligent actions of a surgeon or surgical staff cause patients harm. At Solomon, Sherman, Gabay, Briskin & Sherman, our team is here to help if you need a Philadelphia surgical errors attorney by your side. We have extensive experience handling complex medical malpractice cases, and we are ready to help ensure that you receive full compensation for what happened to you.
Many people have seen the Johns Hopkins report that preventable medical mistakes are responsible for taking the lives of more than 250,000 people each year in this country. When discussing medical errors, perhaps nothing evokes more fear than mistakes made during a surgical procedure.
To be clear, every surgery involves risks. However, all patients should be able to count on their surgeon and the surgical team to handle every part of the procedure with an adequate standard of medical care. When discussing surgical errors, the most detrimental of these are considered “never events.” They are called “never events” because they constitute mistakes that should never occur during surgery, including the following:
These “never events” trigger mandatory reporting requirements in Pennsylvania, so we know when these occur. However, other supposedly less severe surgical errors do not have mandatory reporting requirements but can lead to significant patient injuries.
Surgical errors, both major and minor, can lead to:
For those who do survive a surgical mistake, these patients can suffer from significant scarring and disfigurement, internal organ damage or internal organ failure, massive blood loss, blood clots, nerve damage, permanent mobility impairment, cognitive impairment, and more.
Every state sets a time limit for how long a person has to file surgical mistake claims in court. The Pennsylvania medical malpractice statute of limitations is two years from the date of the alleged malpractice. However, there are various circumstances that could alter this statute of limitations filing period. In cases where the medical malpractice victim was a minor, the two-year time frame will not begin until the age of majority (minor tolling statute). In situations where the injured party was unaware that they were harmed by the malpractice, the patient will have two years from the date from the discovery of the malpractice to file a lawsuit (the discovery rule).
If you or somebody you love has been injured due to a surgical mistake in or around the Philadelphia area, contact the attorneys at Solomon, Sherman, Gabay, Briskin & Sherman today. We take medical malpractice claims seriously, and our goal is to help ensure that our clients recover the compensation they are entitled to for these situations. Let us conduct a complete investigation into the alleged surgical mistake and help ensure that you receive the compensation you are entitled to. When you need a Philadelphia surgical errors attorney, you can contact us for a free consultation of your case by clicking here or calling 215-665-1100.