Surgical Errors

While every surgery carries inherent risks, “surgical errors” refer to preventable mistakes that fall below the accepted standard of care. These are “never events”—things that simply should not happen in a modern operating room. This category provides detailed information on common surgical mishaps, including wrong-site surgery, instruments left behind, and the high frequency of intra-operative nerve injuries (such as damage to the sciatic, radial, or phrenic nerves). We also discuss complications that arise from a surgeon’s lack of skill or the medical team’s failure to monitor the patient post-operatively for signs of internal bleeding or infection. If you have woken up from a procedure with new, unexplained pain or paralysis, these articles help you understand the legal difference between a “known complication” and a “surgical error.”