New York City Delayed Surgical Treatment Lawyer
Delayed surgical treatment can refer to a surgery whose need is identified but unreasonably postponed, a surgery whose need is not identified in a timely manner, or a surgery that takes place but is prolonged past the time that is necessary or safe. New York City medical malpractice attorney Michael Gunzburg takes on doctors and hospitals and holds them accountable for errors and mistakes surrounding surgery decisions that cause patients needless harm. If you may have been hurt by delayed surgical treatment in Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens, call Michael Gunzburg, P.C. for a free consultation. We’ll assemble a team of investigators and experts to find out what went wrong and why, identify the parties responsible, and recover compensation for any harm done to you by inexcusable medical negligence.
How Does Delayed Surgical Treatment Occur?
When a doctor has decided that surgery is necessary, it should be performed as soon as is reasonably possible. However, instead of scheduling the surgery at the next available appointment, doctors and hospitals may take a lax approach to the scheduling process. The doctor might push back the surgery for the sake of his or her personal schedule, or the hospital might have an overbooked operating room or surgical suite.
While not all surgeries are medical emergencies, if the surgery can be postponed and delayed at the whim of the doctor or hospital administrative staff, it’s questionable whether the surgery was necessary in the first place. Performing unnecessary surgery is itself a form of medical malpractice that is estimated to occur 10-20% of the time for reasons ranging from lack of training and competence to identify alternative treatment, business reasons and outright Medicare fraud.
Hospitals have also been known to book a patient into a surgical suite for a prolonged surgery to fit their scheduling of the room and medical staff. Poor pre-operative planning or medical errors such as making an incorrect incision can also cause a surgery to take much longer than it should. Study after study has shown that surgeries should be completed sooner rather than later. Prolonged surgeries put the patient at risk of severe medical complications, including:
- Surgical site infection
- Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism
- Bleeding
- Hematoma formation
- Tissue death (necrosis)
Additionally, the longer a surgery takes, the more chances there are for errors and mistakes, from nicking an organ, nerve or blood vessel to forgetting to retrieve surgical instruments left inside the patient. Keeping a patient under general anesthesia for too long also puts the patient at risk of pneumonia, heart attack or brain damage.
Finally, a delayed surgery might result from a missed diagnosis, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of a serious medical condition requiring surgery to repair. In this instance, the risks associated with delaying surgery can include:
- Heart Attack
- Spread of cancer to other areas of the body (metastasis)
- Infection
- Sepsis
Harmed by Delayed Surgical Treatment in New York City? Call Attorney Michael Gunzburg for Help.
Delayed surgery can cause real harm, and if there is no medical reason to delay the surgery, doctors and hospitals can be liable for damage done by the delay, whether due to scheduling conflicts, a prolonged surgery, or missed or delayed diagnosis. Call Michael Gunzburg, P.C. in New York City at 212-725-8500 for a free consultation, and tell us about what happened in your situation. We take cases on a contingency fee with no upfront costs for our clients, and we strive to get the best results by putting in the time and effort every case deserves.
