What Is Surgical Negligence?

Surgical procedures should improve a patient’s health and well-being. However, if these procedures go wrong, the consequences can be devastating. 

If you or a loved one have suffered due to injuries sustained during surgery, you may be entitled to make a surgical negligence claim.

But what is surgical negligence? 

In short, surgical negligence occurs when surgeons or medical professionals make mistakes concerning surgery, performed either as an emergency or as a scheduled operation, resulting in further injuries or problems. 

The UK Government’s Department of Health & Social Care states that healthcare providers must get the basic qualities of care – safety, effectiveness and patient experience – right every time. However, there are incidents where patients and their families are harmed by surgical negligence.  

If you believe you have been a victim of surgical negligence, a consultation with our knowledgeable clinical negligence solicitors can help you determine the best course of action for pursuing a legal claim. 

Examples of Surgical Negligence

Iatrogenic harm refers to harm experienced following medical care, whereas surgical negligence is the deviation from the expected standard of care which causes harm. This can involve mistakes made before, during, and after an operation. 

To succeed with a surgical negligence case, we must demonstrate that the clinicians who operated, followed a course of action, which is not supported by any reasonable body of medical opinion.

Examples of surgical negligence include the following:

1. Delays in Surgery

A common theme in the surgical negligence cases we see is that it has taken too long to operate in an emergency situation. This can lead to necessitating a lengthier, more complex operation and longer recovery time, such as requiring an open surgery (laparotomy) instead of keyhole surgery (laparoscopy). 

An example is a delay in performing an appendectomy which results in the appendix perforating. This in turn causes peritonitis which is a potentially life-threatening complication. 

2. Wrong Site Surgery

Wrong-site surgery involves operating on the incorrect body part, such as the wrong organ or limb. 

Wrong-site surgery comes under the term ‘Never Events’. The NHS states that Never Events are serious, largely preventable patient safety incidents that should not occur if healthcare providers have implemented strong and reliable safety recommendations. 

Wrong-site surgery can cause needless pain and distress, in addition to delaying treatment of the body part that requires surgery.  

3. Foreign Objects Left Inside Body

Retention of a foreign object such as a surgical sponge or swab is also considered a ‘Never Event’ because such incidents are completely avoidable with appropriate safety measures. 

Retention of a foreign object can lead to a serious infection and a further operation to remove the foreign object.

4. Anaesthesia Mistakes

Precise anaesthesia doses are essential for patient safety. Overdoses with anaesthesia can increase recovery time, cause brain damage, or be fatal. 

Underdosing anaesthesia can cause intraoperative awareness, where the anaesthesia is not sufficient enough to achieve unconsciousness. In serious cases, patients may recollect events that happened while they were under anaesthetic, like pain, paralysis, or feelings of forthcoming death. 

5. Nerve Damage

Surgeons need to take great care during operations to prevent damaging nerves. Whilst some surgeries carry with them a risk of nerve damage, some nerves can be damaged if steps aren’t taken to minimise the risk and the expected level of skill falls below the standard of care. 

For example, the division of key nerves in the hand during an operation. This can lead to paralysis, chronic pain, or loss of sensation, which can permanently affect a patient’s standard of living. 

6. Infections From Inadequate Surgical Practices

Surgical environments require the greatest levels of hygiene. Patients can experience serious infections when sterilisation and cleanliness standards are not met. 

Complications from surgical infections include poor wound healing, which can lead to chronic wounds and local tissue damage.

Infection can also affect surgery recovery time and general well-being. Severe infection cases can lead to organ failure or aggravate existing comorbid conditions. 

Claiming Surgical Negligence Compensation

If errors were made during your surgery, you may be able to claim surgical negligence compensation. To make a claim, you’ll need to demonstrate two things, breach of duty/liability and causation. 

To establish liability you must show that the clinicians who treated you followed a course of action, which is not supported, by any reasonable body of medical opinion. It is then for you to establish however that any medical negligence caused, or at the very least materially contributed to the injuries and reasonably foreseeable losses. 

Causation has to be shown on the balance of probabilities. The basic test for causation can be summarised as:

“But for the negligence, the patient would not, on the balance of probabilities, have suffered the harm in any event.”

The amount of compensation you can receive for a surgical negligence claim depends on the damage you have experienced and the level this has affected your quality of life. You can make a claim for yourself or on behalf of another person who cannot make a claim themselves (eg. minors or a person without capacity) and on behalf of the estate of a deceased. 

In a Clinical Negligence action, there is a 3-year time limit for commencing Court proceedings on claims of this nature, and that time runs from the date of the allegedly negligent incident or knowledge of such negligence (actual or constructive) if this occurred later. 

The limitation period will not commence if the Claimant does not have capacity. With cases involving children, the 3-year time limit will start to run on the 18th birthday and expire on the 21st.

Cases on behalf of a deceased will run from the date of death (on the basis that the limitation had not expired during their lifetime). 

How We Can Help

If you believe that you have been a victim of surgical negligence, we are here to help. 

Our specialist clinical negligence solicitors will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the care you received and the impact on your health, including your current and future medical care needs arising from any surgical error.

Get in touch with a member of our team today to discuss your circumstances and options.