Medical malpractice can end up with you having several injuries, which can be severe too, something like nerve damage. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer confirms that nerve damage is one the most common outcomes of negligently performed surgery.
Patients who have experienced nerve damage can end up having quite a lot of different types of symptoms, including;
- Chronic pains
- Loss of motor function
- Loss of sensation
- Low to mild tingling
- Numbness
- Partial or even complete paralysis
- Scarring and deformity
- Seizures
Nerves that are severed can result in the loss of permanent function or sensation, and if the nerve has been damaged but not severed might result in chronic pain that usually gets worse over time.
There are a lot of medical errors that can lead to nerve damage. These include;
- Improper application of medical tools, surgical retractors, bandages, etc.
- Improve patient positioning, resulting in too much pressure on a nerve for a long time.
- Failure of diagnosis
- Intubation errors
- Nicking the femoral artery
- Spinal surgery errors
- Nerve severe surgical errors
Nerve damage caused by incorrect administration of anesthesia
Medical malpractice lawyer even says that, apart from these, the most common medical error that leads to nerve damage is incorrect administration of anesthesia.
When local anesthesia or the nerve blocks used to manage pain are wrongly administered, it can result in severe nerve damage. It can prevent blood flow to a specific nerve, the central nervous system, or even the brain.
It generally occurs during childbirth and can cause life-changing damage with permanent disabilities.
Analyzing the Nerve Damage
Nerve damage can come in more than a thousand different forms, each one having distinct signs and symptoms. Getting through a nerve conduction velocity (NCV) test can help you diagnose the type of nerve damage. This test measures how effective the impulses flowing through the nerve are. The specialty of the test is that even if a person is suffering from significant nerve damage, the tests can still yield regular results.
Can You Sue the Surgeon?
After suffering yourself or even seeing your loved one suffering, specific questions might linger around your mind. Such as how long would it take to recover? Is the condition even recoverable? Can I sue the surgeon who caused the pain?
Well, if you are looking for an answer related to recovery, it entirely depends. The recovery time or even the possibility highly depends on the severity caused by the malpractice. But the answer to your other question is undoubtedly a yes!
Yes, you can sue the surgeon who causes you pain. But to do so, you need to show a connection between the nerve damaged and the surgery.
For instance, your claim could be hinged on the fact that your surgeon mishandled a scalpel that cut the nerve resulting in your disability. Or your anesthesiologist accidentally hit the nerve tissue while injecting the needle.
These are just a few examples that could end up giving rise to medical malpractice.
Conclusion
The article mainly boils down to a simple fact, which is,
- Nerve damage is the most common outcome of medical malpractice
- You should take an appropriate step without a delay
- Since medical malpractice cases can be much more complex than one could think of, hiring a medical malpractice lawyer is the best option.