On behalf of Hastings Law Firm posted in Surgical Errors on Monday, December 1, 2014.

From Cesarean sections to appendectomies, surgery is truly an amazing, life-saving technological advance. Unfortunately, like many things in life, there are still inherent risks to the patient, including surgical errors. While it’s understandable that Texas patients place an enormous amount of trust in their healthcare providers — especially when going under the knife — this blind faith can sometimes be misguided.

Due to the sensitive nature of surgery, any error made by the attending surgeon can quickly become a disaster. Vital organs may be exposed and at risk for injury, such as a perforation in the bowel or a puncture in a nearby organ. Main arteries, if inadvertently cut or severed, present a serious risk of losing too much blood.

But not all errors made in surgery are caused by a slippery knife. Items simply left behind, like the sponges that we discussed on Oct. 1, 2014 (“Sponge left inside patient results in medical malpractice lawsuit”) can cause injuries so severe that a patient may not survive. Even a simple miscount of sponges or a misplaced tool stitched inside a patient may not be as uncommon as some people think.

Sadly, it is not unheard of for some Texas hospitals to attempt to cover up surgical errors that resulted in an injured patient, even if that person now requires expensive and lengthy medical treatment as a result of negligence. Proving harm may feel like going up against an insurmountable mountain, but our firm understands how these types of medical malpractice cases function, and we don’t back down on behalf of our clients. If you or a loved one suffered because of a surgeon’s careless mistake, compensation may be just one of many steps on the road to recovery, but without it, the journey might never be possible.