People who suffer from chronic back pain may seek relief from spinal surgery. This complex form of surgery is often done to relieve problems related to compressed or herniated discs, spinal cord compression or damage from severe arthritis. During spinal surgery, patients are given general anesthesia, so all the risks of this are present. A tube is inserted into their airway to ensure adequate breathing and to prevent damage to the airway. The patient is face
down so that surgeons can cut through the tissue and muscle around the spine to reach the problem areas. After the muscles are retracted, the patient’s medical problems are addressed. Surgeons might drill away bone spurs, repair disc herniations or relieve compressions of the discs or spinal cord. When the surgery is over, the patient is sewn up and taken to recovery, where he should be monitored closely for any problems relating to the surgery or infection.
Spinal surgery, like any surgery, comes with a certain number of risks. They include damage to other body systems if nerves are accidentally severed or nicked near the spine. Breathing or cardiac problems from the stress of surgery. The risk of this is lowered by the pre-surgical work up including a series of exams and tests.
In addition to these risks, there are the factors related to use of general anesthesia. It can be very helpful to ask your family members if any of them have had ill effects or allergic reactions to anesthesia before.
Some of these risk factors include: aspiration pnuemonia if you forget to not eat before surgery. Excess bleeding or clots are another risk. Tell the staff if you take any supplements or herbs that may have blood thinning properties such as garlic, green tea or fish oil.
The most common types of negligence associated with spinal surgery come from positioning the patient incorrectly, carelessness during the operation, or failure to perform diagnostic test before the surgery, leading to an inaccurate diagnosis. Unfortunately, many of these negligent practices lead to irreversible injury to the patient, who may become disabled as a result. One type of injury is nerve damage which may cause a variety of ill effects, depending on the body systems affected.
You might have grounds for a malpractice lawsuit if the surgeon or operating staff use their surgical hardware incorrectly or if the surgeon makes careless mistakes during the course of the surgery. Other situations that might give cause for legal action include a failure on the hospital staff’s part to diagnose an infection after the surgery or complications during or after the surgery. In order for there to be a legal case, the damages that the patient suffers must be shown to result from the injury that occurred during the surgery. If you have any questions, call an attorney, like a personal injury lawyer, today.