Knee replacement offers a good outcome in almost 95% of the patients and it also lasts up to 15 years without causing any complication or trouble. However, there are patients who face complications after a total knee surgery and this happens due to several reasons. Also, this kind of negligence requires the patients to go for revision surgeries increasing the total medical expenses. You might face swelling and immense pain for prolonged periods. To determine if there has been a malpractice by the surgeon, it’s important to retain an orthopedic expert witness as they can help determine where exactly the surgeon was at fault.
Signs that your knee surgery has failed:
Some of the complications that you’ll find are- severe pain, soreness, redness, infection, fever with chills, stiffness in the knee making it unable to move, loss of range of motion, unstable knees, and difficulty walking. To know if your surgery was failing, it’s important to get X-rays done. Your complications will become worse if you ignore these symptoms initially. Even if there was no negligence while performing the surgery, you surgeon can be at fault before or after the surgery. Below mentioned are some of the instances where your surgeon might go wrong.
- Failure to check the previous medical history of the patient
- Failure to obtain verbal and written consent.
- Failure to explain the pros and cons of the surgery
Moreover, your surgeon could also commit malpractice if they use certain instruments or components to which you are allergic to. For example, in arthroscopy surgery, the surgeon will first numb the area by anesthesia. However, certain patients might have allergic reaction to it and the surgeon still uses the technique. The surgeon can be held liable for this. At times, the patients can also e allergic to certain metals so your surgeon should avoid using any metallic components during the surgery. Other instances where you can bring lawsuit against your surgeon include- cutting the wrong organ, using wrong equipment, using wrong surgical procedure to name a few.
At times, the outcome of the surgery may not be in your favor because of your own negligence or due to other unavoidable factors. This is the reason why you need an orthopedic expert witness for the matter. These experts will determine the cause of negligence and if they get solid proof that the surgeon was at fault, then the attorney will file a malpractice lawsuit. Moreover, these experts are also called to provide unbiased reviews, and also to provide simplified version of the complex matters of the case. Moreover, they are also called to offer testimony and deposition in court trials.
To retain these expert services, you need to get in touch with a professional attorney because they have the legal right to appoint an expert witness for the case. The combined role of attorneys and the expert witnesses will help you to settle with the highest compensation amount.
