Albuquerque Surgical Errors Lawyer

Surgery is serious, and complications can arise during any type of surgical procedure. However, if a surgeon or a member of the surgical team makes a mistake, serious injuries can occur. At the Branch Law Firm, we are here to help if you need an Albuquerque surgical errors lawyer by your side. If you or your loved one have been harmed due to the negligent actions of a doctor, surgeon, or other healthcare professional, we want to help you recover compensation.

Why Choose the Branch Law Firm

• At Branch Law Firm, our team has decades of experience handling complex injury and medical malpractice claims, and we understand what it takes to help clients secure compensation.
• We make sure that clients come first, which is why every client will have access to their attorney to ask questions or concerns about their case.
• We have the resources needed to handle every aspect of a medical malpractice claim, including the investigation and going all the way to trial.

Most Common Types of Surgical Errors

Unfortunately, surgical mistakes can occur in a wide variety of ways. Even though there are many safeguards put in place to help prevent careless errors from happening, it only takes one mistake made by a member of the entire surgical team for a patient to sustain irreparable harm. Some of the most common surgical mistakes that occur include the following:

• Foreign objects left behind. There are various types of objects used during a surgery that could accidentally get left behind inside a person’s body. This can include clamps, gauze, surgical sponges, and more. If surgeons or any member of the medical team fails to account for any and every object they used, then serious errors can occur and lead to long-lasting harm to the patient.
• Operating on the wrong patient. There are reasons that members of the surgical team will ask patients their identifying information over and over again, and that is to prevent operating on the wrong individual. Unfortunately, if there are not proper safeguards in place, it is possible to operate on the wrong patient for a surgical procedure.
• Operating on the wrong site. Just like there are safeguards in place to prevent operating on the wrong patient, there are also safeguards in place to prevent operating on the wrong body part. Some of the most common ways this type of error occurs include operating on the wrong side of the body (i.e. performing a procedure on the left leg instead of the right), but there are also other ways this error can occur.
• Anesthesia errors. Anesthesia is used for a vast majority of surgical procedures. Anesthesiologists have incredibly complex procedures to perform, and any mistake made in the dosing, administration, or monitoring of a patient could lead to significant long-term consequences and even brain damage.
• No informed consent. All medical professionals must obtain informed consent from patients before they perform procedures, except in a very limited set of circumstances. Failing to obtain informed consent for the procedure is considered medical malpractice.

This is certainly not a complete list of the types of medical errors that can occur in and around the Albuquerque area. If you have any questions about your particular case, please reach out to a member of our team for assistance as soon as possible.

Compensation Available for a Surgical Errors Claim

Surgical error victims in Albuquerque may be able to recover a range of types of compensation if their claim is successful. Our attorneys work to recover both economic and non-economic damages for every surgical error patient that we assist.

• Economic damages. These types of losses are relatively calculable because they revolve around measurable expenses gauged by the receipts, invoices, bills, and estimates the victim receives afterward. Some of the most common types of economic damages we work to recover compensation for include:
  • All emergency medical expenses
  • Follow-up surgical needs
  • Rehabilitation or physical therapy
  • Prescription or over-the-counter medications
  • Medical devices
  • Lost wages or loss of future earnings
• Non-economic damages. These types of losses revolve around less measurable expenses a surgical errors victim will likely incur. We often refer to these as pain and suffering damages. Specifically, our attorneys will seek to recover compensation for a patient’s physical pain and suffering, emotional and psychological distress, and loss of quality of life. There are various methods used to help calculate non-economic damages, and they are an integral part of the overall compensation recovery.

There is no set amount of compensation paid to surgical error victims in Albuquerque. Rather, the total compensation awarded will vary depending on specific factors related to each case.

How Long do You Have to File a Lawsuit?

Individuals harmed due to the negligence of a medical provider in New Mexico have a limited amount of time to file their lawsuits in civil court. The New Mexico medical malpractice statute of limitations says that a claim must be filed within three years from the day the malpractice occurred. It is important to point out that New Mexico states that these claims must be filed from the date the injury occurred, not from the date it was discovered.

The medical malpractice statute of limitations is paused for those under the age of 18 who sustained an injury caused by medical malpractice. In these circumstances, the statute of limitations will begin when the child turns 18 years of age and run for three years.

Call an Albuquerque Surgical Errors Attorney Today

If you or somebody you care about has been harmed due to a surgical error, reach out to the team at the Branch Law Firm for help today. We have extensive experience handling complex medical malpractice claims throughout New Mexico, and we know how to stand up to aggressive insurance carriers and legal teams for the other party. Let us help you get to the bottom of what happened and recover the compensation you need. Contact our Albuquerque surgical errors lawyer for a free consultation of your claim by filling out our contact form or calling (800) 828-4529.