When you take your child to a doctor, you put trust in the doctor that an appropriate treatment will be completed. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. There are some instances in which doctors make errors while treating patients. When those errors are serious, legal recourse might be possible. Kentucky residents might be interested to read about a case of doctor error that involved a little boy who had a surgical wire left in his neck after being treated for dehydration.
The boy was treated for dehydration in August 2011 when the doctor placed a surgical guide wire in the toddler’s vein. The wire wasn’t removed after the procedure. The boy began to act abnormally and complained of neck pain. His parents noticed something resembling a cyst on the boy’s neck in February 2012. The child had an x-ray that revealed surgical wires in his chest. One of those was going up to his head.
The doctor who did the procedure on the boy had been working 40 hours when he did the procedure. No system was in place to catch the error. It is speculated that the missing guide wire was left in the child’s leg, broke into two pieces, and migrated through his body. Ultimately, the boy had to have surgery to remove the wire.
A jury found the doctor was guilty of medical negligence and awarded the family $1 million in damages. The family now hopes the hospital will change procedures to ensure this type of situation doesn’t happen again.
If you or a loved one have been the victim of a doctor’s errors, you might have a legal right to seek compensation for the error. Consulting with a Kentucky medical malpractice attorney can help you determine your legal rights, as well as creating a plan to obtain compensation.
Source: King 5 News, “$1 million verdict in case over surgical wire left in toddler” No author given, Dec. 19, 2013
