People are fortunate to have access to high-quality medical care. If they have a serious medical condition, modern medicine can often offer a surgical treatment solution. If a doctor fails to perform a medically necessary surgery that could potentially help a patient, they could suffer serious health consequences, and the doctor could potentially be held legally accountable for his/her negligence.
A local attorney from Kaire & Heffernan, PLLC, who has had success with Miami failure to operate malpractice cases, could help you seek justice.
When people think of surgical malpractice, they often think of errors made in the operating room, such as nicking an artery, failing to monitor a patient’s vital signs, or even performing an operation on the wrong body part. However, mistakes made outside the operating room can also constitute medical malpractice. Doctors owe a duty of care to provide their patients with the best possible medical care. Healthcare providers should examine their patients and determine the medical treatment that best fits their situation. If the medical treatment that would provide the patient with the most relief and best benefits is surgery, the doctor should perform an operation on that patient or refer them to a surgeon who knows how to skillfully perform the necessary surgery.
A dedicated Miami malpractice lawyer could carefully review the evidence to help a patient build a solid malpractice claim based on their doctor’s failure to operate.
Failure to perform a medically necessary operation could cause a patient to suffer a wide range of adverse health effects.
If a patient breaks a bone, a doctor can often just set the bone and put a cast on it to protect it while it heals. However, more complex types of fractures, such as open or complicated fractures, require surgery to fully heal. Without surgery, the patient could suffer lingering mobility complications because their fracture might not resolve completely. For instance, if a doctor fails to operate on a patient with a severely broken ankle, that ankle might continue to give the patient trouble, causing pain and forcing them to limp throughout their life.
Not operating on a patient in a timely manner could cause their illness to progress and worsen. In a patient with cancer, not removing the cancerous tumor and treating the patient’s cancer aggressively could allow the cancer to spread.
Failure to operate when necessary in Miami can also take away a patient’s treatment options. If a surgeon waits too long, the eventual surgical plan could become considerably more complicated. Instead of requiring a simple fix, the surgeon might need to perform a more complex procedure. For instance, if a doctor recognizes the symptoms of appendicitis promptly, they might be able to perform a laparoscopic procedure to remove the damaged organ. Although a laparoscopic appendectomy is still a serious medical procedure, it is not that invasive, and the patient usually is able to recover faster. If their doctor delays in performing the surgery and the patient’s appendix ruptures, they might require an open appendectomy, which is a fully invasive surgery that is more painful and requires a longer recovery period, during which the patient might need to take more time off from work.
A seasoned attorney from Kaire & Heffernan, PLLC will use their skills and experience to examine the facts and fight for a fair recovery.
Doctors should provide their patients with the best available care and treatment. If your doctor failed to operate and you suffered adverse health consequences, that failure might constitute actionable medical malpractice.
Contact a dedicated local attorney who has successfully handled multiple Miami failure to operate malpractice cases to discuss what happened to you.
(305) 876-6001