Often, when Texans wake up from surgery, they breathe a sigh of relief that everything went according to plan. Unfortunately, some surgical errors may not be discovered until days, weeks, months or even years down the road. This can be especially true when it comes to surgical site infections.
Generally, one’s skin serves as a barrier that protects internal organs from infection. Therefore, when a medical professional cuts the skin to perform an operation, he or she is putting the patient at risk of developing a surgical site infection. These infections occur in as many as 3 percent of all surgeries, and most of them develop within a month of an operation.
There are three types of surgical site infections. Superficial incisional infections only affect the skin surrounding the area where an incision was made. Deep incisional infections are, obviously, deeper, which means that they can affect muscle and surrounding tissues. Organ surgical site infections can be anywhere inside of the body and can have a dramatic effect on one’s organs.
While many surgical site infections are caused by germs either already in the body or transmitted by loved ones, they can also come from unsanitary surgical instruments and the unsanitary hands of doctors and nurses. Infections caused by these characteristics are wholly preventable, unacceptable and extremely dangerous. An infection can be so severe that it leads to organ failure and death. Therefore, those medical professionals whose negligence cause infections need to be held accountable.
The best way to do this is usually to pursue a medical malpractice case. Proving that an unsanitary worker or surgical instrument is responsible for serious injuries can be challenging, but it is a task that many legal professionals are ready to tackle. To start the process of learning more about the type of medical malpractice discussed above and how to deal with it from a legal perspective, please continue to research this area of the law.
