Surgical Errors

Introduction to Surgical Errors in Georgia

Surgical errors are a distressing reality in the medical field, and they can have severe consequences for patients. In Georgia, as in other states, patients trust healthcare providers to perform surgeries with precision and care. However, surgical errors can occur, leading to physical harm, emotional distress, and sometimes even fatalities. Understanding how surgical errors happen is essential for patients and their families.

Common Causes of Surgical Errors

Surgical errors can result from various factors, primarily stemming from errors or negligence during the surgical process. Common causes include miscommunication among the surgical team, improper pre-operative planning, inadequate sterilization of surgical instruments, incorrect surgical site identification, and medication errors. Fatigue, distractions, or lack of experience among surgical team members can also contribute to the problem. Furthermore, the complexity of certain procedures and the use of multiple instruments can increase the risk of surgical errors.

Types of Surgical Errors

Surgical errors can manifest in different ways, including wrong-site surgery, where the procedure is performed on the wrong part of the body, or wrong-patient surgery, where a patient receives surgery intended for someone else. Other types of surgical errors include organ damage, nerve injuries, post-operative infections, and retained surgical items (such as sponges or instruments) inside the patient’s body. These errors can have devastating consequences for patients and their long-term health.

Impact on Patients

The impact of surgical errors on patients can be profound. Patients may experience physical harm, infections, pain, prolonged recovery periods, and the need for additional surgeries or medical interventions. Surgical errors can also result in emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and a loss of trust in the healthcare system. Families and loved ones are often affected as well, as they witness their loved ones suffering due to preventable mistakes.

Legal Recourse for Surgical Error Victims in Georgia

Patients who believe they have suffered harm or injury due to surgical errors in Georgia have the right to pursue legal remedies. Our Georgia law firm specializes in medical malpractice cases, including those related to surgical errors. We are dedicated to advocating for the rights and well-being of victims, helping them secure compensation for their injuries, medical expenses, and pain and suffering. If you believe you or a loved one has experienced surgical errors in Georgia, contact us for a free consultation to explore your legal options and seek justice for your injuries.

No. That’s like asking, “I need brain surgery; can my primary care provider do it?” For brain surgery, you need a brain surgeon. For a medical malpractice case, you need a medical malpractice attorney. Davis Adams exclusively represents medical malpractice victims; that’s why you won’t find information about personal injury cases on this website. In contrast, most other firms that solicit medical malpractice clients primarily handle car wrecks and other personal injury cases. Just visit their websites, and you’ll see.

You have one opportunity to make the right decision for your Georgia medical malpractice case. We recommend asking every lawyer the following questions before making your choice:

Is your practice dedicated exclusively to medical malpractice cases?

If not, what percentage of your firm’s cases involve medical malpractice?

How many medical malpractice cases in Georgia have you successfully handled in the past 12 months?

Can you provide examples of Georgia medical malpractice cases similar to mine that you’ve successfully resolved?

Is your firm based in Georgia, with a long history of winning cases throughout the state?

When you’ve asked these questions and listened to the responses, you’ll likely discover that few law firms — other than Davis Adams — can provide good answers. We’d be honored to have the opportunity to speak with you.

Like all reputable medical malpractice law firms in Georgia, our firm operates on a contingency fee model. If we recover money for our clients, we earn a percentage. If we don’t recover any money, we’re paid nothing. Don’t be fooled by the flashy TV and billboard lawyers who advertise “No fee unless you win” as if they’re offering a special deal. They’re not – all reputable law firms offer the same contingency fee payment structure.

A variety of people may be able to file a lawsuit in Georgia following a surgical error, including: 

A person injured by medical malpractice (or their representative) can file a medical malpractice lawsuit in Georgia to recover special damages (medical bills, lost wages, etc.) and general damages (commonly referred to as “pain and suffering”); 

The spouse of a person injured by medical malpractice can file a medical malpractice lawsuit in Georgia to recover for loss of consortium (essentially, harm to the marital relationship); 

The spouse, parents, or child of a person killed by medical malpractice can file a wrongful death medical malpractice lawsuit in Georgia to recover for the “full value of the life” of the decedent; and 

The estate representative for a person killed by medical malpractice can file a medical malpractice lawsuit in Georgia to recover for the pain and suffering the decedent experienced before death, medical bills and final expenses, and in some cases, the full value of the decedent’s life (on behalf of the decedent’s next of kin).

Every Georgia medical malpractice case involving a surgical error is different. Some take a few months, and some take a few years. As a general rule, we’ve traditionally advised our clients that their case will likely settle or go to trial within 24 months of our firm being hired. However, as the court system continues to recover from the Covid backlog, getting a case to trial now takes closer to 36 months.

We’d encourage you to run — don’t walk — away from any lawyer who tells you what your surgical error case is “worth” before doing the work necessary to answer that question honestly. Before any lawyer can begin to value your case, they must engage you as a client, meet with you to hear and understand the story of what happened, order and analyze your medical records, hire expert witnesses, determine the venue for your case (the county in which the lawsuit would be filed), and confirm that amount of insurance coverage available from the defendant(s). Until those tasks are completed, no good lawyer will attempt to give you a reliable estimate as to what your case may be worth.

Because our firm is designed to be small and highly specialized, we’re selective in the cases we can take. At any given time, we’re typically litigating about 10 cases — and each year, we receive about 1700 inquiries from prospective clients. While we’d like to help more people, we’re not willing to sacrifice the quality of our work. Thus, we limit our engagements to those involving death or catastrophic harm, where we feel like we can make the greatest impact for the client.

The majority of Georgia medical malpractice cases involving surgical errors are resolved through settlements prior to reaching trial, but it’s crucial to approach each case with the possibility of trial in mind from the very beginning. The reason is simple: we cannot predict which cases will ultimately go before a jury. Consequently, our medical malpractice lawyers litigate every case with a focus on trial preparation. This approach not only strengthens our client’s position during pre-trial settlement negotiations but also ensures that we are fully prepared to present our case to a jury should a negotiated resolution prove unattainable.

Yes, we routinely take complex cases around the country that require our advanced level of medical negligence expertise. To date, we’ve helped medical malpractice victims in 46 states.

Our marketing people tell us this should be the first FAQ, not the last. We disagree. You should have the opportunity to learn who we are and what we’re all about before we ask for your trust in handling your medical malpractice case. We hope the information you’ve already seen gives you a sense of what makes us different, and better.

Why do we think we’re better?

First, we’re laser-focused on one thing: helping medical malpractice victims in serious cases, all day, every day. That’s a commitment we’ve made. By contrast, most other lawyers claiming to handle medical malpractice cases spend the majority of their time working on matters other than medical malpractice — car and truck wrecks, etc. Our dedication to those injured by medical negligence sets us apart.

Second, we know Georgia; it’s home for us and always has been. We’ve earned our reputation as effective and respected Georgia medical malpractice attorneys among judges, court clerks, defense lawyers, risk managers, claims adjusters, and mediators over nearly two decades. Our deep local knowledge and long-standing relationships in the legal and medical communities are absolutely essential to getting the best results for our clients.

Finally, we’ve consistently achieved extraordinary results for victims of medical negligence in Atlanta and throughout Georgia. You can see what we’ve accomplished on the Case Results page of this website, and what our clients think of us on the Client Reviews page. The people who’ve hired and trusted us in their time of greatest need are glad they did. And that’s what matters most of all.