Surgeries require acute focus and attention from doctors, nurses and other caregivers. All health care providers involved in a surgical procedure have to be fully committed and focused or the patient could be seriously injured or even killed. Unfortunately, thousands of people in Delaware and across the country suffer every year as a result of surgical errors. A woman in another state allegedly died as a result of negligence during surgery and her son filed a lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the woman underwent a surgical procedure on her neck. The lawsuit said the woman’s doctor was supposed to be watching her neuromonitoring signals during the surgery, which are used to assess the functionality of the brain. However, the plaintiffs alleged that the doctor was talking on his cellphone, driving to his office and looking over other patients’ records while he was supposed to be monitoring the woman.
The lawsuit also claimed that the neuromonitoring technician in the operating room neglected to notify surgeons of signal changes in the woman’s brain. Allegedly, the position of the woman’s head was cutting off blood flow and could have been fixed had the surgeons been told. Instead, the woman suffered a severe brain injury and was in a coma for nearly two months until she died, the lawsuit said. Reportedly, the lawsuit was settled with the son receiving $4.2 million dollars.
When negligence occurs during a surgical procedure, patients and families suffer the consequences. Fortunately, there are options available for those who have been affected by negligent care. In Delaware, victims and families who have suffered due to surgical errors should consider seeking the services of an experienced attorney to file a claim.