Surgical Malpractice Leading to Serious Nerve Damage

Every surgery involves some degree of risk; however, negligence on the part of the surgical team may pose serious threats to the patient’s health and life.

Surgical errors may cause serious damage including nerve damage. There are two types of surgical errors that may cause nerve damage in a patient. It can either be caused by a surgeon’s physical error or an error in administering anesthesia. During surgery, a doctor may accidentally severe or slice a nerve, or the instrument may run against the nerve and cause inflammation. While administering regional anesthetic, the doctor may make a mistake and cause serious nerve damage.

Proving Medical Negligence

In order to prove medical negligence involving nerve damage, a patient would need to prove that:

• There existed a doctor-patient relationship.
• The doctor acted negligently during the surgical procedure.
• The negligence caused injury to the patient

Deviating From the Standard of Care

In a case of surgical malpractice, the doctor-patient relationship is not difficult to prove. However, proving negligence and the resulting injury are often harder to prove. To prove medical negligence, the patient would need to show:

• the proper medical standard of care for the scenario
• the surgeon’s deviation from the standard of care

Negligence Causing Injury

Medical standard of care is a term used to refer to the level of competence demonstrated by a reasonably skilled doctor for the treatment scenario identical to the one in which malpractice occurred. In most cases, expert testimony from medical professionals is required to establish medical standard of care for a particular treatment scenario. The victim also needs to prove a breach in the standard of care. For example, if the medical standard of care required the doctor not to cause any damage to surrounding nerves, but the doctor severed a nerve, then it may be proof of medical negligence. The victim will also need to show evidence that the doctor’s negligence caused injury or harm. The harm may include medical expenses, pain and suffering, wage loss, loss of earning capacity, and loss of ability to enjoy life.

The value of a surgical malpractice claim depends on the seriousness of the injury caused by the surgeon’s negligence. For serious nerve damage that has caused permanent disability, the patient may recover significant damages. Consult with Zevan and Davidson Law Firm, LLC at (314) 588-7200 for a free consultation.