Surgical Negligence

Surgery is always scary because we don’t know what will be found.  When a surgeon carelessly causes and injury or death, a surgical negligence claim may be pursued. As a Los Angeles Medical Malpractice lawyer, I have handled many surgical negligence cases. Every surgery has potential risks and complications including injury to nerves, organs, and arteries.  Many of these injuries are avoidable if the surgeon follows safety measures during the procedure.  

Gallbladder surgery is a frequent source of litigation. There is a small cystic duct that connects with the common bile duct that drains bile out of the gallbladder as part of our digestive system. To remove the gallbladder, the surgeon needs to cut the cystic duct and then peel the gallbladder off the liver to remove it.  Part of a surgeon’s skills is to create a “critical view of safety” so the surgeon can see the junction of the cystic duct and the common bile duct and be certain the correct duct is cut.  Unfortunately, sometimes a surgeon cuts the common bile duct and instead removes the gallbladder with the cystic duct and part of the common duct attached.  A common bile duct injury causes bile to drain into the stomach cavity causing severe inflammation, pain, and infection. In many cases, this injury usually requires major reconstruction of the biliary system, altering the patient’s life and causing pain, suffering, and extended hospitalizations.

In thyroid removal surgery, there is a risk to the patient’s laryngeal nerves that innervate our vocal cords and assist with swallowing, breathing, and provide gag reflexes to prevent choking.  The key to preventing these nerve injuries is to identify the laryngeal nerves before cutting out the thyroid gland.  Different techniques have been developed to do so, including the use of nerve sensors so the surgeon can tap the tissue to detect nerves and avoid them.  Surgeons are trained to state in their operative report that the laryngeal nerves were identified.  In a recent case I handled, the operative report did not say the surgeon identified the nerves and my client ended up with bilateral vocal cord paralysis as a result of both laryngeal nerves being cut.

Another case involved a heart catheterization where a camera at the end of a catheter is inserted through a blood vessel in the groin so the cardiologist can visualize the coronary arteries of the heart.  When the procedure was finished, the cardiologist pulled out the catheter and stitched the blood vessel closed. However, he was careless and placed the stitch through my client’s nerve, failed to realize it, and failed to discover it post-procedure when my client developed shooting electrical sensations down his leg.  The nerve injury was not diagnosed for several days, leading to a permanent foot drop where my client could no longer flex his foot at the ankle.

These are just a few examples of surgical negligence.  The defense always argues that the patient “assumed the risk” of injury by consenting to the surgery.  However, I have successfully argued that my client did not consent to negligence and that “assumption of risk” only applies in cases where injuries occur in sporting and recreational activities.