Springdale, AR Retained Sponge from Surgery Injury Attorney

Preparing for a surgical procedure can make any person nervous. We often expect that our doctors and surgeons will provide us with the best of care. However, a moment of negligence during a procedure can result in your surgeon, causing you a serious injury. If you or a family member was injured during a surgical procedure, contact an experienced Springdale surgical injury attorney today.

Ken Kieklak, Attorney at Law, is dedicated to providing victims of medical malpractice the legal representation they need to pursue their potential legal claim. Our firm has worked with residents of Springdale, Fayetteville, Bentonville, Fort Smith, and across Northwest Arkansas, and we would be honored to work with you. To schedule a free legal consultation to discuss your claim, contact Ken Kieklak at (479) 316-0438, or contact us online.

Determining Liability for a Surgical Error

The performance of any type of surgery is a matter that should be taken extremely seriously by patients and doctors. Whether a patient is undergoing surgery that will last for multiple hours or that can be resolved in a half-hour, the medical team in charge of the surgery should remain diligent throughout the procedure. Unfortunately, some surgeons may not exercise the care required to ensure the safety of a patient.

When performing a surgical procedure, a surgeon should keep close track of all the medical instruments needed to perform the surgery. A checklist of the type and quantity of tools that will be used can help the medical staff can ensure the medical staff does not lose an item. However, some medical teams may neglect to perform an inventory check to discover whether any instruments were left inside a patient before completing a procedure.

Determining liability for a retained sponge surgical error is typically an easy task. For example, if a patient has only had a single surgery and they later discover that a sponge was left inside their body, the only option is that a surgical team left the sponge inside the patient. However, if a patient has had multiple surgeries in recent years, it may be more difficult to determine when the sponge was left in their body.

While determining who left a sponge inside a patient should be fairly easy, the patient will still need to prove that their surgeon’s standard of care was inadequate. Unfortunately, the court will not allow a plaintiff to simply rely on the assumption that a surgeon left a medical instrument inside them because no other person could have. Instead, the patient will need to refer to a medical expert to prove a surgical team should be held liable for their injury.

To learn more about filing a lawsuit for medical malpractice due to a retained sponge, you should continue reading and speak with an experienced Arkansas medical malpractice lawyer.

Filing a Lawsuit for a Retained Sponge Injury

Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit for a retained sponge can present a number of problems. One of the main issues is that a victim of a surgical error like this may not experience symptoms of their injury until months or even years later.

Patients that have a retained sponge in their body can experience a number of symptoms that could easily be mistaken for other conditions. For example, if a patient experiences severe bloating after a surgical procedure, the patient may simply be diagnosed with gas or inflammation due to the surgical procedure.

If a sponge remains inside a person’s body for an extensive period of time, they can suffer from a number of health issues:

• Fistulas (an abnormal connection between body parts)
• Infections
• Internal bleeding
• Severe pain

In some cases, the body may begin to grow tissue around the sponge. When this happens, the patient will need to have extensive surgery to separate the sponge from other organs.

Another issue is that the State of Arkansas has a strict statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases. Specifically, a plaintiff must file their case within two years of the injury. Failure to file within the two-year timeframe means that the court can bar the plaintiff’s lawsuit.

As some plaintiffs may not experience symptoms of a retained sponge injury for months, it is difficult to determine when the statute of limitations should begin to run. If you are uncertain about when your medical malpractice case should be filed, you should speak with an experienced attorney as soon as possible.

Consult with a Springdale Surgery Malpractice Lawyer Today About Your Retained Sponge Injury

If you or family member was the victim of medical malpractice during surgery, consult with an experienced Springdale medical malpractice lawyer today. Ken Kieklak, Attorney at Law, possesses over 20 years of legal experience fighting for residents of Arkansas, and he will work tirelessly to litigate your injury claim. To schedule a free case evaluation, contact Ken Kieklak at (479) 316-0438.