Spine Surgery Injury Lawyer San Diego

Avoid spine surgeries when possible because there is a possibility for serious side effects from little errors. With your spine connected to all parts of the body through the nervous system, a lot can go wrong quickly. Surgeons must inform their patients of the procedure’s risks when possible. 

Some complications that may arise during spine surgery include:

• Temporary facial sores and loss of vision – Come from lying face down during the procedure. An anesthesiologist should regularly check that sores are not forming.
• Bad reaction to anesthetic (in case of general anesthetic) – May interact with patient’s pre-existing conditions. You and your doctor should discuss all effects of anesthesia in advance.
• Problems with sexual or other bodily functions can occur from damage to nerves in the pelvis or other areas.
• Chronic pain – Perhaps the original pain is not stopped or worsens.
• Lung problems – Your body needs oxygen for tissue healing from the surgery. General anesthesia can cause lung functioning issues, hindering this. Pain medication and long periods lying on your back can cause the lungs to function poorly.
• Infections – can be superficial or deep.
  • In cases of superficial ones, there may be redness, swelling, and lack of healing around the surgical wound. A few stitches may need removal and antibiotics administered. Often a patient should get antibiotics any time hardware goes into the body.
  • Deeper-level infections can be deadly. You will require more surgery to drain the area and replace rejected hardware.
• Hardware fractures – A metal plate, screw, or rod hold the spine in alignment while it heals. If these break or move out of place before you are fully healed, you will need a second surgery to replace them.
  • In cases of implant migration, an errant screw or other hardware can damage blood vessels, nerves, or other structures.
• Blood clots – Deep Vein Thrombosis occurs when blood clots form, usually in the leg. The danger is a clot can cut off your limb by blocking the vein, or it may migrate to your lungs, causing a deadly pulmonary embolism. DVT is a risk whenever surgery involves the pelvis or lower (so spine counts). The body is trying to heal, so it speeds up clotting after surgery.
  • Movement following surgery and medication can help prevent DVT.
• Nerve and spinal cord injuries that can lead to paraplegia or quadriplegia:
  • Dural tears (fluid around the spinal cord) leak and require a second surgery if not caught and repaired immediately.
  • Bleeding inside of the spinal column.
  • Damage to spinal cord blood vessels.
  • Damage to nerves when moved in surgery.
• Transitional Syndrome – When one segment of the spine is fused, the area next to it takes on the added stress, causing wear and tear. Eventually, the patient will feel their back pain has moved as the adjacent segment deteriorates.
• Pseudoarthrosis – If there is an unsuccessful fusion attempt, there is still motion between vertebrae. This movement is not only painful, but it stresses the hardware and may break it. At this point, you will need further surgery.
• Death – Always a risk in any surgery. Death can be caused by a blood clot, a bad reaction to anesthesia, blood loss, or more.

You can seek medical malpractice damages if you have evidence you were pressured into surgery or not informed about the risks. Contact a spinal injury lawyer from southern California’s Mova Law Group, and we will discuss the details of your case today!

If your spinal cord injury surgery left you in worse shape, you could recover some of your damages with a personal injury claim. An expert spinal cord injury attorney from Mova Law Group will review your losses. In medical malpractice cases, there is a $250,000 limit to non-economic damages you may claim, but economic ones have no such cap. 

It seems unfair to limit non-economic damages, but unless you pursue a personal injury case against the original at-fault individual for the auto accident, that ceiling applies. You must include emotional distress, pain and suffering, and lowered quality of life in the $250,000 total.

Economic damages are easier to tally up and prove and, luckily, are without a limit in California. These can include the following:

• Medical expenses for multiple surgeries, medications, visits to specialists, hospitalization, and any other medical treatment required for surgical complications.
• Physical therapy, rehabilitation, occupational therapy, etc.
• Accommodations made to home or transportation for accessibility in cases of long-term or permanent disability.
• Long-term care facilities.
• Wrongful death funeral and burial expenses.

Any spinal cord injury can take some time to appear when recovering from surgery. Unfortunately, this time does give you less room for discovery and filing a claim. The statute of limitations in the state is two years for a personal injury case. For medical malpractice, three years from the accident or one year after discovery (whichever comes first). Your spinal cord injury lawyer can walk you through your options.

In surgeries that go wrong, you may establish surgeon negligence and seek damages from them. An experienced San Diego medical malpractice attorney can help you prepare your personal injury claim. You may have experienced one of the following negligent circumstances:

• Your surgeon committed a surgical error. If you have evidence that another doctor would not have done the same thing in the same situation, you can show the surgeon was not competent to perform the procedure.
• Your surgeon didn’t consider all the options for treatment. Surgeries present risks, but your doctor may have pushed it as an option to help with your pain or to fix your spine when other methods would have sufficed.
• You received an incorrect diagnosis or no diagnosis at all. The wrong diagnosis could lead you to have unnecessary surgery and renders your complications completely unnecessary. Receiving no diagnosis means your spine could remain in pain for long periods without any proper treatment.
• You needed to get more information about the risks involved with surgery. This may especially be the case with anesthesia and harmful interactions.
• You developed an infection due to the healthcare provider’s negligence. They may have performed the surgery in an unsanitary space or used instruments that needed to be adequately cleaned or disinfected. You may have developed a resistance to antibiotics from the hospital environment, where superbugs can spread.

Contact our law firm today to set up an appointment if you have evidence that you experienced medical malpractice that caused your spine surgery injuries.