How to Make a Surgical Negligence Claim
If you have suffered an injury or illness as a result of negligent surgical care, you may be entitled to claim compensation for time off work, medical costs, and the pain and suffering caused to you and your family.
JMW’s clinical negligence team will work with you to understand your case, before carrying out an investigation into the circumstances of your surgery to establish whether negligence was involved. This process will involve a review of the available medical evidence, including consultations with independent experts.
We will compile the strongest possible case to help you win your claim as quickly as possible, usually out of court. We will also try to obtain interim payments to help pay for any immediate care you may require, as our aim will always be to ensure that you are able to move on with your life and your recovery. If we are able to take your claim on, we can do so on a no win, no fee basis.
FAQs About Surgery Negligence Claims
What are the most common examples of surgical negligence?
Although every surgical procedure has an element of risk, medical professionals have a duty of care to uphold, meaning they must perform surgery to the best of their ability to avoid complications. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and errors do occur that result in clinical negligence claims being made.
Common examples of surgical negligence include:
- Poor standard of surgery
- Damage to other organs
- Anaesthetic awareness
- Errors during gallstones surgery
- Vasectomy errors
- Negligent testicular torsion surgery
- Failed cataracts surgery
- Poor aftercare, including infection errors
- Failed joint replacement surgery
Surgical negligence can leave those affected in need of long-term care, worrying about financial issues or - in the worst-case scenario - grieving a lost loved one.
What are the common causes of surgical negligence?
A high proportion of medical errors are associated with surgery, most likely because the immediate impact and consequences of surgical errors are much easier to recognise than other medical mistakes.
Surgical errors occur for all kinds of reasons, from a basic lack of knowledge to the failure of a piece of equipment, but the most common reasons include:
- Delays in operating
- Inadequate preoperative assessment
- Unnecessary surgery
- Delays in diagnosis
- Misdiagnosis resulting in delayed operation
- Wrong site surgery
Advances in technology mean that surgical procedures are changing all the time, and sometimes when surgeons are on the 'learning curve' with a new technique, the risk to the patient can be increased.