The standard of care doctors are legally required to provide to their patients offers more legal leeway for minor errors than the duty of care people owe those around them while doing other things in public, such as driving a motor vehicle. However, there are some things no responsible medical professional should ever allow to happen, and leaving a surgical implement or other foreign object in a patient’s body after surgery is an example of this.
If your surgeon or someone else involved in your care was negligent to this egregious degree, you should consider reaching out to one of our surgical malpractice attorneys at Thurswell Law as soon as possible. While retained surgical items typically serve as strong grounds for malpractice cases, you may still have trouble obtaining all the compensation you deserve without support from our experienced Michigan objects left in the body malpractice lawyer.
Foreign Object Injuries as Grounds for Malpractice Litigation
Every healthcare provider who participates in a surgical procedure is expected to know every step of that procedure, understand what tools and materials are required to maximize the procedure’s success rate, and maintain organized and sanitary conditions in the operating room at all times. Any doctor who fails to meet this standard of care and allows a patient to suffer harm due to a foreign object left in their body has committed legally actionable malpractice under Michigan law, and our attorneys could help file suit over this.
As obviously negligent as this type of error is, you will likely still be expected to file what is known as an affidavit of merit alongside your complaint. This is a signed statement made under oath by a qualified medical professional explaining that, based on their review of available facts and evidence, they believe malpractice occurred and the patient in question has valid grounds for a lawsuit.
What Restrictions Does the Law Place on Malpractice Claims?
You typically have two years after initially discovering you were harmed through malpractice to file suit over it. You are generally required to submit a notice of intent to sue to the court and serve a copy of that notice to everyone you will name as a defendant in your claim at least 182 days before actually filing suit. Unfortunately, that is far from the only procedural roadblock you may face during a malpractice claim over objects left in the body, as our Michigan lawyers could explain.
Perhaps most significantly, Michigan law imposes caps on how much money you can recover for non-economic damages stemming from medical negligence. The exact value of this cap changes yearly to account for inflation and allows for greater recovery when plaintiffs have sustained certain kinds of life-altering injuries.
Contact Our Michigan Malpractice Attorneys About Objects Left in the Body
There is never any legitimate excuse for a surgeon to leave a foreign object in their patient’s body after concluding a surgical procedure. However, this type of medical error is much more common than you would expect, and it can cause life-altering or even life-threatening harm to those impacted by it.
We know that experience gets results, and we have been helping people like you achieve favorable outcomes from cases like yours since 1968. Our attorneys at Thurswell Law Firm are ready to help you understand your rights and determine whether you have a case. Call today to discuss your options with a Michigan objects left in the body malpractice lawyer from our firm.
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