A New York surgeon is being sued for medical malpractice after operating on the wrong eye of a four-year-old boy, during what was supposed to be a simple procedure to correct a wandering eye. Once the surgeon realized what she had done, she then proceeded to operate on the correct eye without notifying the boy’s parents. The boy’s vision may now be permanently damaged.
When asked to explain why she conducted the wrong site surgery, the doctor merely replies, “I lost sense of direction and didn’t realize I had operated on the wrong eye until I was done.” There has been no improvement in the correct eye since the surgery, and now the boy’s other eye appears to be wandering as well. He has red marks in the whites of his eyes, requiring him to apply eye drops three times a day.
During any kind of operation, the doctor is not the only person responsible for ensuring that the surgery proceeds correctly. Nursing staff, hospital staff, and other medical professionals can also be held liable for surgical errors. Wrong site operations are such serious medical mistakes that the World Health Organization recently published a safety checklist (containing 19 items) that is being recommended for use in every hospital operating room.
If you or one of your loved ones has suffered because a wrong site surgery or any other type of medical malpractice in New York or New Jersey, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Trief & Olk today to schedule a confidential consultation.
