Vinings Surgical Errors Lawyer
If your recent surgery did not go as planned, you might find yourself questioning whether the doctor and hospital staff did everything in their power to give you the care you deserved. Unfortunately, hospitals and doctors rarely admit mistakes, but a well-versed Vinings surgical errors lawyer could help you get the answers you need.
Not only could they help provide you with answers to your pressing questions, but they could file a surgical error case on your behalf with the goal of obtaining the compensation that you need for your injuries. Contact a dedicated medical malpractice attorney today.
Expert Affidavit Requirement in Vinings
Malpractice cases such as surgical error cases intertwine complex legal and medical issues. Since the court requires that victims and their teams of attorneys adhere to strict legal guidelines while proving their cases, it is often helpful to have one or more medical experts weigh in on their cases.
To help reduce malpractice lawsuits that have no merit, many states have enacted tort reform requiring legal documentation from a medical professional that validates the legal claim. For Georgia, this requirement is known as the expert affidavit requirement which is found in O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1.
The affidavit must be prepared by a qualified medical expert who gives their sworn opinion that the health care provider who is being sued committed at least one negligent act. The statute says that the expert must have sufficient experience in performing the procedure, diagnosing the condition, or rendering the treatment which is alleged to have been done negligently (or to have taught those things). In most cases, that practically means that these experts must be a professional match with the wrongdoer.
When an Expert Affidavit Must be Filed
The affidavit must be filed along with the initial complaint, although the court could grant a 45-day extension if:
- Georgia’s malpractice statute of limitations is set to expire within ten days of the date on which the complaint is filed; and
- the victim’s Vinings surgical errors attorney was not hired by the victim more than 90 days before the statute of limitations expires.
Types of Malpractice Surgical Errors
Some surgical errors are labeled as “Never Events” by The Joint Commission, the organization that certifies and accredits many of the hospitals across the U.S. “Never Events” are events that should never occur and have no valid reason for occurring. For example, an operation that occurs on the wrong arm is a never event that should not happen.
The standard of care for surgeries is to have the surgical area marked, often by patients themselves whenever possible and to have the entire surgical team pause to verify important information such as the patient’s name, date of birth, allergies, and type of surgical procedure and location of the procedure.
Other surgical errors, while not “Never Events” would not have happened had the physician performed the procedure within the standard of care. Victims of certain surgical errors could benefit from a free case review by a surgical errors lawyer in Vinings. Attorneys and an in-house medical professional could review the injuries a patient has suffered from:
- Failure to diagnose a dangerous medical condition during surgery,
- Operating on the wrong part of a patient’s body such as an amputation of the wrong limb,
- Damaging healthy organs or tissues during surgery,
- Leaving surgical tools or instruments in a patient’s body after surgery,
- Mistakes made during emergency surgery,
- Failure to prevent or fix complications such as bleeding or infection during surgery, and/or
- Failure to properly monitor a patient for issues such as infection or internal bleeding following surgery.
Upon determining both the standard of care and the injuries that a victim has endured, an experienced attorney could then construct a claim of negligence against the appropriate parties and present the findings with cutting-edge technology in court or negotiations.
Let a Vinings Surgical Errors Attorney Evaluate a Claim
When a surgical error occurs, more often than not, it is because a healthcare professional did not uphold his or her duty to you. Surgical errors are never acceptable, no matter how many excuses a hospital or its insurance company may try to offer you.
When you let a seasoned Vinings surgical errors lawyer evaluate your case, you could be assured that you have come to the right law firm for help. If you are ready to seek answers to what happened during your surgery, you need to call to speak to a lawyer who takes calls after hours.
