January 28, 2021
The Weitz Firm, LLC

Early one frosty morning, a single mother of two was getting ready for work. While her older daughter made cereal, her one-year-old was ready to go, jumping in her crib and laughing. As she bent down to pick up her youngest, she felt a searing pain in her lower back. Thinking quickly, she made sure the baby was safe in her crib before falling on the ground, crumbling in pain.

My mother suffered multiple slipped disks that day. It would take multiple surgeries and almost a year in a hospital before she came home to us. Even then, she told me she might never walk again. There would never be another beach, zoo, or park day for us. Her pain became another member of the family, and we adjusted our lives around what she was physically able to do.

Though I was unaware at the time, it wasn’t the slipped disks that kept her from my sister and me for so long. During surgery, a sponge was left in her back near her spine. When the doctors realized their error and went back in, the damage was extensive. My sister and I were robbed of a year of our mother’s kisses, cuddles, and comfort due to the neglectful actions of her surgeon.

While she eventually regained the ability to walk, my mother suffered incredible back pain for the rest of her life. Her doctors continuously supplied pain management medication, and she battled an addiction to those pills for the rest of her life. She lost her life by overdose ten years later.

Medical malpractice is a serious issue that affects far too many in our country. The consequences can be dire and have multiple unintended consequences that can last a lifetime.

The highly sought team of attorneys at The Weitz Firm, LLC advocate for victims of surgical errors and their families. They hold doctors, nurses, and hospitals accountable for negligent or preventable mistakes. When you need a personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to a surgical error, call The Weitz Firm, LLC today.

What Are Surgical Errors?

Surgical errors are preventable. Unfortunately, it takes patient deaths and families holding doctors accountable to enact change. Hospitals have systems of error checks to ensure patient safety, but we’re not done. According to the Patient Safety Network, PSNet, an agency for healthcare research and quality, the top surgical errors are:

  • Foreign objects, like sponges, gauze, and clamps, being left inside the patient to cause infections and further damage
  • Operating at the wrong surgical site, whether it’s the wrong kidney, wrong arm, or leg, affecting amputations and transplants
  • Giving the patient the wrong surgery entirely
  • Nerve damage due to a hand tremor, slip of the scalpel, or flick of the wrist.
  • Anesthesia errors where the dosage may be wrong, the patient does not receive enough oxygen to the brain, or the patient does not receive enough anesthesia and wakes up paralyzed during surgery

The effects are devastating on the individual who can suffer a lifetime of pain and disability.

Medical Malpractice in Numbers

The Civil Justice Resource Group has collected data from Harvard medical practice studies, the National Practitioner Data Bank, and numerous medical journals to put the scope of medical malpractice into numbers.

  • Only 2.9% of victims of malpractice file claims
  • Doctors and hospitals have avoided paying close to 80% of the economic harm they have inflicted.
  • 7% of physicians are responsible for 2.5% of all malpractice awards
  • Between 65,000 and 200,000 fatalities annually are due to medical accidents, per hospital records
    • For comparison: 46,000 fatalities are attributed to motor vehicle accidents
  • 1% of hospital patients become victims of medical malpractice.

Weitz Firm, LLC is Here for You

If you or someone you love has suffered due to a surgeon’s error, you need a medical malpractice attorney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Please, don’t let years of suffering go by without justice. Call our dedicated and aggressive team of lawyers at The Weitz Firm, LLC to fight for your family. Contact us for a free consultation of your case by clicking here or calling 267-587-6240.

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