As all medical observers will tell you, there are risks inherent in all surgeries, whether simple and complex. Unfortunately, one of the more common risks is surgical error. Even the highly-trained, experienced and caring medical community of Pennsylvania is not immune to allegations of surgical error.
A recent case in Florida highlights these surgical risks, which sometimes result in medical malpractice claims. A 46-year old former Department of Defense contract employee is a patient with a tragic result from what should have been simple outpatient surgery. The former intelligence analyst was about to leave for Iraq in 2010, when she scheduled surgery to eliminate a cyst on an ovary.
After asking friends to pick her up in four hours, she didn't awaken until a month later. A victim of necrotizing fasciitis, commonly called, flesh-eating bacteria disease, she did not leave the Tampa-area hospital for six months. Tragically, she was discharged without her hands and feet.
Now confined to a nursing home, needing 24-hour medical care, the victim has filed a lawsuit claiming surgical error by the doctor, the hospital and the university with which it is associated. Her suit alleges that the surgeon "mistakenly sliced through her small bowel" while removing the cyst. The suit further claims that the physician never noticed and, hence, did not repair the error.
The filing in Hillsborough Circuit Court alleges that this mistake led to the rare bacterial infection, damage to her internal organs and the loss of her limbs. The victim also alleges that her problem was advanced by other personnel at the hospital who also made medical mistakes during her treatment. The medical malpractice lawsuit seeks damages that cover her considerable medical bills, need for lifetime care, a driver to take her places and yet-to-be-determined potential future medical procedures.
This tragic case highlights the truth of surgical risks associated with any procedures, however simple or apparently safe. How concerned are you with the possibility of danger with the most routine surgery?
Source: Tampa Bay Times, "After outpatient surgery, flesh-eating bacteria leads to patient losing her hands and feet," Stephen Nohlgren, June 22, 2012