Medical Malpractice During High-Risk Medical Procedures

The negligence of a medical professional may cause you severe physical, emotional, and financial consequences.

Careless and negligent behavior on the part of medical professionals poses a risk to your well-being. As a patient, you may suffer serious injuries due to negligent actions, impacting your life financially, physically, and emotionally. Medical malpractice may occur in different ways during the process of patient care and treatment. This includes a health care professional providing a wrong diagnosis, inadequate patient observation, prescription errors, and errors in surgery.

High-Risk Medical Procedures

Some medical procedures pose more hazards compared to others. These procedures normally have a small room for error. Although medical malpractice can happen with any treatment, some procedures are more susceptible to errors and malpractice. These high-risk procedures include the following:

• Gastric bypass surgery and surgeries involving the internal organs
• Cesarean sections and other surgeries associated with childbirth
• Thoracic or chest surgeries
• Cardiothoracic surgeries
• Lasik surgeries
• Cosmetic surgeries, including liposuction, face lifts, and breast implants

Establishing Medical Malpractice

All surgical and medical procedures involve some level of risk. Complications may be unpredictable or may not be anticipated until the start of the procedure. Unavoidable situations and inherent dangers associated with procedures cannot be used as the basis for medical malpractice lawsuits. However, it is a different case when it comes to unnecessary and avoidable errors causing severe injuries; these are possible grounds for medical malpractice lawsuits.

• Failure to recognize emergency situations in surgeries and delaying the surgical procedure.
• Failure to act immediately to deal with emergency situations during a surgical procedure.
• Improper administration of an appropriate dosage of anesthesia.
• Inadvertently leaving behind surgical tools inside the body of a patient.
• Using contaminated surgical tools and equipment.
• Causing damage to the other body organs of the patient.
• Puncturing a body organ and failure to notice the punctured area.
• Carrying out the surgical procedure on the wrong part of the body or body organ.
• Improperly performing a surgical procedure on the patient.
• Inadequate communication during a patient hand off or transfer of the patient.
• Uncertainties on the different responsibilities of medical personnel inside the operating room.
• Inadequate monitoring of the patient during and after a surgical procedure.

Responsibility of Health Care Providers

Regardless of the inherent risks in surgical and medical procedures, it is essential for patients to have confidence that their doctors and other medical personnel can perform their responsibilities properly and responsibly. Patients should be able to trust the professionalism of their health care providers. When these medical professionals fail to demonstrate care and attention to detail, the lives of the patients are put at a risk.

If you have suffered injuries because of the negligent actions of a medical professional, you may choose to file a lawsuit with the help of an experienced St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer. Our St. Louis law firm can help you fight for the compensation you deserve. Call Zevan and Davidson Law Firm at (314) 588-7200.