It Is Surprising That Despite New Safeguard Procedures More Than 3,000 People Have Surgery On The Wrong Site Each Year In America - Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice Lawyer Weighs In
Despite new systems to eliminate medical and surgical errors, many busy surgeons still continue to operate on the wrong body part which is considered a “never, never event “. Recently I went in for minor surgery due to tennis elbow and was sedated in a waiting and holding area prior to be wheeled into the operating room at which point the doctor came up to me and said what are we here for today to which I responded him “Why don’t you tell me?"
Recently I read of a case involving a 4-year old girl who went in for surgery on her right eye. The surgeon even wrote her initials above her right eye to prevent a surgical mixup but during the surgery to fix a wandering right eye, the doctor erroneously operated on a healthy left eye. Doctors claim that in some procedures it is very hard to distinguish the target site from the healthy site and that they sometimes confuse identical or similar patient names. As a practicing Pennsylvania medical and surgical malpractice lawyer for over three decades whose law firm employs a team of registered nurses and medical legal professionals, we find that many times health professionals go through the motions but are in such a rush or hurry with a backlog of patients waiting for surgery that they delegate responsibilities and mistakes are made. Of course, the surgeon is the captain of the ship but all of those present during surgery, including the nurse, surgical assistant, interns, or residents have the right and should halt a surgical procedure if they see a safety step being bypassed. Surgeons should always mark a surgical site in advance of the operation and do what is considered to be a one last make sure in which other members of the surgical team ascertain that the correct patient is present and the correct site is revealed for the surgical site and that all medical records including x-rays and diagnostic tests match. It is bad enough to have to subject yourself to surgery. However when you wake up and discover that a wrong and previously healthy body part was operated on, the wrongdoers should be held accountable for their actions.
The experienced Philadelphia medical and surgical malpractice lawyers of Reiff & Bily have recently joined forces with the Beasley Firm and together our skilled medical malpractice attorneys have been noted for legendary work in the area of medical malpractice and surgical errors. Together our attorneys have been awarded over $2 billion dollars since 1958 on behalf of victims and their families. For a free, no obligation consultation contact us online at www.reiffandbily.com or toll free at 1-800-421-9595.
