Charlottesville Post-Operative Infections Attorney
Getting surgery may be necessary for your health and wellbeing. But even when surgery is elective instead of medically necessary, there is an expectation that a doctor will treat you with a high degree of care. Indeed, the last thing that you expect is for a doctor to breach the standard of care owed to you, resulting in an adverse outcome. One type of adverse outcome that patients may suffer from is post-operative infection. If you have developed an infection after an operation, medical malpractice may have played a role. Contact our Charlottesville post-operative infections attorneys at the law office of MichieHamlett today for a free consultation and a review of your options.
Types of Surgical Site Infections
Johns Hopkins Medicine identifies three types of surgical site infections. These are:
- Superficial incisional. This type of post-operative infection occurs just at the skin at the site of the surgery. It may be minor as a result.
- Deep incisional. More serious than a superficial incisional surgical site infection, a deep incisional infection occurs beneath the incision in the muscle and surrounding tissues. These types of infections have the potential to be very serious.
- Organ or space surgical site infection. This type of infection refers to an infection that could be at a location other than where the surgery took place, including an infection in a body organ or a space between the organs.
Causes of Post-operative Infections and Preventative Measures
There are a number of risk factors that make someone more likely to develop a post-operative infection, including things like having diabetes, smoking, having cancer, being overweight, or being elderly. Of course, medical malpractice can play a role in the risk of surgical site infection in the following ways;
- Failing to properly sanitize medical tools prior to surgery;
- Failing to properly scrub hands and wear clean scrubs to the surgery;
- Failing to provide the patient with post-operative care, including prescribing antibiotics;
- Failing to understand a patient’s risk of infection and responding accordingly – for example, keeping appropriate blood sugar levels for a person with diabetes or keeping patients having certain surgeries at normal body temperature.
In addition to preventing post-operative infections, doctors may also act with malpractice in treating post-operative infections. Failing to correctly diagnose the infection, render quick treatment in the form of antibiotics, and more can impact a patient’s outcome.
Call Our Charlottesville Post-Operative Infections Attorneys Today
When you go in for a surgery, you shouldn’t have to worry about the risk of infection; instead, you should be able to take comfort in knowing that your doctor is going to do everything possible to reduce your risk of any type of surgical complication, including but not limited to infection. If you have developed an infection, our post-operative infection attorneys can help. Infections can lead to serious adverse health outcomes, including things like organ failure and even death in severe cases. Get the legal support you need by calling our law firm directly today. We are here to serve you.
