Surgical Malpractice In South Carolina

Thanks to the Internet, it seems like everyone thinks they know more than their doctors do about how to treat medical conditions, but there is a lot more to practicing medicine than can be summarized in a website about tendonitis or irritable bowel syndrome.  Not every incident where a patient fails to respond to a treatment or suffers adverse effects is medical malpractice.  You can only prevail in a medical practice case if you can show that there is a preponderance of evidence that the doctor who treated you deviated from the standard of care.  The standard of care varies from one situation to another; it depends on each patient’s medical history, among other factors.  Before you can proceed with your lawsuit, a panel of three physicians with recent clinical experience in the same field of medicine as the physician you are accusing, such as gastroenterology or hand surgery, must review your case and determine what they think the doctor should have done.  In other words, medical malpractice cases involve a long pretrial process where your lawyer must ask the right questions to the right people.  If you suffered adverse effects from surgery because of a surgeon’s error, contact a Columbia medical malpractice lawyer.

Family Files Lawsuit After Surgeon Committed Error During Teen’s Spinal Surgery

In May 2021, a 12-year-old girl from the Lowcountry of South Carolina underwent a T4-L4 spinal fusion surgery at Medical University of South Carolina to correct her neuromuscular scoliosis.  At first, the patient seemed to be recovering well after the surgery, but the following day, she became unable to move her toes.  Over the next hours, she lost the ability to move her legs and hip joints and to feel sensations in the affected body parts.  Nine days after the surgery, doctors performed a CT scan, which revealed that the surgeon had placed the screws in the wrong place.  Two days later, eleven days after the original surgery, doctors performed another surgery in an effort to reverse the effects of the paralysis, but the girl remained paralyzed from the waist down.

The girl’s parents sued MUSC for medical malpractice in September 2024.  As of October 2024, the case is still pending, but most medical malpractice lawsuits settle without going to trial.  Plaintiffs in medical malpractice lawsuits have the right to request compensation for past and future medical expenses arising from the error, as well as past and future lost income.  They can also request noneconomic damages for pain and suffering.  Given that the patient will require lifelong care for her injury and is a minor who has not yet entered the workforce, the requested damages in this case could easily reach the millions.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you pursue a lawsuit if you suffered a serious injury because of a medical error during surgery.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

live5news.com/2024/09/06/lawsuit-musc-doctor-misplaced-screws-during-childs-spinal-surgery/