Have you been injured or suffered the wrongful death of a family member because of a surgical error in Atlanta, Georgia? Don’t hesitate to call the experienced legal team at Malone Law for help. If your surgeon was negligent, our Atlanta surgical error lawyers can help you pursue compensation and fight for the financial accountability you deserve.
Since 1965, Malone Law has been a fierce advocate for victims of surgical errors and medical mistakes across Atlanta. As leaders in medical malpractice litigation with over 50 years of experience, our award-winning Georgia trial attorneys have successfully obtained hundreds of millions in settlements and jury awards.
Don’t settle for less than your surgical error case is worth. Put our trusted legal team in your corner. Contact us online or call (770) 390-7550 to set up a free, no-obligation case assessment today.
How Malone Law Can Help if You’ve Been the Victim of a Surgical Error in Atlanta, GA
How can you be sure that your surgeon made a mistake? What evidence will you need to prove their negligence and win your surgical error case? What happens if the doctor and hospital refuse to accept responsibility for the harm they’ve caused? How can you be sure that a hospital’s settlement offer is fair?
Let our experienced Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers handle the tough questions for you. Take this time to focus on what’s most important: your physical health, mental well-being, and moving forward with your life.
When you turn to Malone Law for help after a surgical error in Atlanta, GA, you’ll be able to count on us to:
- Carefully investigate the circumstances of your medical treatment
- Identify why and how a surgical error happened
- Gather evidence to support a successful claim for damages
- Bring in expert witnesses to consult as we investigate, build, and assess the value of your medical malpractice case
- Prepare an affidavit to support your case and provide a legal foundation for your claims of negligence
- Aggressively seek a maximum settlement as we negotiate with the surgeon, the hospital, and their insurance companies
- Bring your surgical error lawsuit to a Fulton County jury, if necessary
Our law firm appreciates that a surgical error can be costly. We want to help without adding to your financial stress. That’s why our surgical error attorneys in Atlanta work on contingency. We don’t get paid unless we settle or win your surgical error case.
Contact us to learn more about why you’ll want our Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers fighting for you. Your initial case evaluation is free.
How Common Are Surgical Errors?
Mistakes during surgery happen more often than you might think. Research suggests that an estimated 4,000 surgical errors are made across the United States every year.
That’s nearly 11 surgery-related mistakes every single day.
What Is a Surgical Error?
Surgical errors occur when a surgeon (or another healthcare provider) makes an avoidable mistake during a surgical procedure that results in patient injury or death.
The outcome must not be an anticipated risk of the surgical procedure itself.
Errors can include actions that are not taken and actions that are improperly taken.
Some of the most common types of surgical errors include:
- Wrong site surgery
- Leaving an instrument, sponges, or foreign objects in the body
- Damaging health organs or tissue during surgery
- Anesthesia errors
- Failing to diagnose problems or conditions during a surgical procedure
- Performing surgery on the wrong patient
- Failing to address pre-and-post operative complications
Generally speaking, surgeons have at least 13 years of education and training, so we don’t expect them to make these types of mistakes. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen, errors during surgical procedures in the United States happen quite often.
What Causes Surgical Errors in Atlanta, GA?
Some of the most common causes of surgical errors in Atlanta include:
- Performing unnecessary surgeries
- Surgeon inexperience
- Facility understaffing
- Surgeon fatigue
- Drug or alcohol use
- Miscommunication between a surgeon and the rest of the medical team
- Medication errors
- Deviating from accepted rules and regulations
- Rushing to perform or complete a procedure
- Misdiagnosis
- Distractions during surgery
- Multiple surgeons working on a patient simultaneously
- Mislabeling surgical specimens
It’s important to get to the bottom of why and how a surgical error was made. At Malone Law, our Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys will carefully evaluate the details of your care and work to understand exactly where things went wrong.
Once we have a better understanding of the cause of your medical error, we can begin to prepare a compelling legal claim to get you the compensation you need and deserve.
What Do I Have To Prove To Win a Surgical Error Malpractice Case in Atlanta?
Surgical errors are a type of medical malpractice. Medical malpractice is a matter of negligence.
Ultimately, you’ll have the burden of proving that your surgeon (or another member of your healthcare team, such as a nurse or an anesthesiologist) was negligent.
- Duty: You must prove that the surgeon owed you a duty of care. Essentially, this requires establishing that a doctor-patient relationship existed.
- Breach: The surgeon must have breached the duty of care owed to you by failing to meet accepted standards within the medical community. In Georgia, the standard for healthcare providers is quite high. Consider if another surgeon of the same specialty would have done anything differently under the circumstances.
- Causation: The surgeon’s actions (or inaction) must have been the actual and proximate cause of your injury or loved one’s death. The consequence must not have been an anticipated or reasonably foreseeable risk of the procedure.
- Damages: You must have suffered identifiable damages as a result of the surgical error.
Expert testimony can go a long way in helping you prove your surgical error case. At Malone Law, we’ve spent decades building strong relationships with respected medical professionals in Atlanta. When you turn to us for help proving your surgical error case, we’ll lean on them for help along the way.
What Types of Damages Can I Get in an Atlanta Surgical Error Lawsuit?
As the victim of a surgical error in Atlanta, you reserve the right to sue your provider for the harm they’ve caused.
In Georgia, you can potentially recover economic damages and non-economic damages if your claim is successful.
This can help you get money for:
- Current and future medical expenses
- Rehabilitation
- Disability
- Diminished earning capacity
- Lost wages
- Nursing assistance
- Medical devices and equipment
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Reduced quality of life
- Loss of consortium
- Funeral expenses if a surgical error is fatal
If there’s evidence that the surgeon hurt you intentionally or that their actions were grossly negligent, you may also be able to recover punitive damages at trial.
The surgeon, the hospital, and the insurance company will all try to stand between you and the compensation you deserve. They’ll claim no mistake was made or that your injuries aren’t that severe. Our Atlanta surgical error attorneys won’t let them control the terms of your case.
We’ll do everything in our power to force a fair fight and engage in meaningful settlement negotiations with the defendant. If you don’t receive a fair offer, we’ll be more than ready to bring your case to trial and persuade a jury that you deserve a life-changing monetary award.
How Long Do I Have To File a Lawsuit if I’ve Been Injured Because of a Surgical Error in Georgia?
You won’t have unlimited time to file a lawsuit if you’ve been injured because of a surgical error in Atlanta, Georgia.
The statute of limitations for most medical malpractice lawsuits – including those involving surgical errors – is two years.
So, you’ll have two years from the date the surgical error is made or a family member’s wrongful death to pursue compensation.
There can be exceptions, such as situations when a foreign object is left in your body after surgery. In these limited situations, the statute of limitations begins to run when the injury is discovered.
However, thanks to the state’s statute of repose, there’s a strict five-year time limit on medical negligence claims.
So, even if you haven’t discovered an injury, you’ll have a maximum of five years from the date of a surgical error to pursue compensation.
Protect your rights by speaking with an experienced medical malpractice attorney in Atlanta as soon as you suspect that a surgical error was made.
Schedule a Free Consultation With an Experienced Atlanta Surgical Error Lawyer
Your surgeon made a mistake. You shouldn’t have to bear the burden of the consequences on your own. Call Malone Law, and discover how our Atlanta surgical error attorneys can help you fight for the compensation you deserve.
Our law firm has been a trusted advocate for victims of surgical errors in Atlanta for more than 58 years. Now we’re here to fight for you and your family.
Contact our law office in Atlanta, GA, at (770) 390-7550 to schedule a free consultation and get started today.