The vast majority of doctors in the U.S. will not advise a patient to undergo surgery unless it is necessary. However, there are some unscrupulous surgeons who will recommend surgeries that are not medically for profit or, in other cases, a surgeon may advise surgery by mistake. Both scenarios can be extremely dangerous to patients who put their trust in doctors to recommend the best course of treatment.
Those who have surgeries – necessary or not – run the risk of complications. A common threat to all surgical patients is that a serious infection may develop around the surgical site resulting in prolonged hospitalization, sepsis and even death. Other complications can develop depending on the surgery from anesthesia errors to short or long term disability to death. Permanent scarring and disfigurement may occur at the incision site.
Common causes of unnecessary surgery include misdiagnosis, lack of informed consent and, although rare, surgeons recommending unnecessary procedures for profit. If a patient suspects that their procedure was medically unnecessary or that they were not appropriately informed of a procedure’s benefits and risk, they may have a claim for medical malpractice and are advised to contact an experienced lawyer for help.
Marc A. Humphrey is known among his peers for taking on some of the most difficult and complicated medical negligence and hospital error cases. If you believe you are a victim of an unnecessary medical procedure, contact Iowa medical negligence lawyer Marc A. Humphrey for assistance at 515-331-3510.
