Undergoing an invasive medical procedure can be an overwhelming experience. Our readers who have had to have surgery, whether medically necessary or elective, can attest to the many procedural steps that must be undertaken before they were finally administered anesthesia prior to their operations. In hospitals and clinics throughout Pennsylvania, doctors and medical personnel are expected to practice safe surgical practices to make sure they perform the right procedures on the right patients at the right times.
This is because wrong-site surgeries are a major problem in the United States. A wrong-site surgery happens when a doctor performs a surgical procedure on the wrong part of a patient’s body or on the wrong patient. For example, if a patient needed to have their left knee replaced and their surgeon replaced the patient’s right knee instead, this error would amount to a wrong-site surgery.
Wrong-site surgeries are traumatic and painful for victims. Not only does the victim of a wrong-site surgery have to cope with the aftermath of an invasive medical procedure, they must also deal with not having their original ailment corrected. In the above example, the victim may have to recover from having the wrong knee operated on only to go back under the knife to have the correct side fixed through an additional surgery.
Victims of wrong-site surgeries are often victims of medical malpractice. These individuals have rights and may choose to pursue their incident-related damages through civil lawsuits. With the help of personal injury attorneys, victims of wrong-site surgeries can work to get their lives back in the wake of their traumatic medical experiences.