Many Oregon residents trust their doctors to help them when they need it most. However, doctors can make mistakes and leave patients with serious complications that can even be fatal.
One type of medical malpractice that has occurred multiple times is when doctors leave foreign objects inside of patients following surgeries. For example, a 49-year-old man had a tumor removed from his abdomen. In its place, the doctors left a 13-inch metal retractor. An Arizona man actually died before ketchup packets, paper towels and plastic bags were found in his stomach. The man had reportedly been living in an assisted facility after suffering a traumatic brain injury.
There have also been occurrences of doctors accidentally amputating incorrect appendages. For example, a doctor in Florida amputated a 52-year-old patient’s healthy leg. The surgeon’s license was revoked for six months and he was fined. A similar mishap occurred to a woman who was told that she had cancer in her jaw. She opted to have a portion of her chin removed to give her more time to spend with her children even though she was left disfigured. After the procedure, doctors discovered that she never had cancer. In another case, a male body builder who was looking to get pectoral implants realized after his procedure that he was given C-cup breast implants.
Doctor errors can cause a patient to suffer from serious complications following even the simplest of procedures. If it appears that a surgical error caused a patient harm, the victim might potentially be entitled to compensation for the damages that were sustained. A medical malpractice attorney may assist by determining if the doctor was negligent during the procedure. In such cases, the injured patient may recover the cost of the additional medical care needed to recover.