Our bodies are remarkable when healing from many different injuries and wounds, often repairing damage to muscle, bone, and tissue through natural healing. However, the nervous system is not as resilient, and most nerve damage after surgery is permanent.

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Hiring a Surgical Error Attorney to Prosecute a Nerve Damage From Surgery Lawsuit
The Role of the Central Nervous System in Human Health
Anesthesia or Surgical Errors That May Result in Nerve Damage
The Long-Term Impact of Nerve Damage from a Surgical Procedure
Surgical Nerve Damage Complication FAQs
Effective and Dedicated Surgical Error Attorneys Can File Your Nerve Damage From Surgery Lawsuit

Our nerves carry signals throughout the body and transmit information to our organs, muscles, and tissue. Every medical professional performing an invasive procedure must be cautious not to nick or sever the nerves during the surgical procedure.

Nerve damage might be medical malpractice if a reasonable surgeon would have done something differently in similar circumstances to yield a different result. Here, our attorneys discuss nerve damage from surgery lawsuits.

Hiring a Surgical Error Attorney to Prosecute a Nerve Damage From Surgery Lawsuit

The personal injury attorneys of Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC know the degree of devastation when surgical errors happen. Some postoperative patients are horrified when waking up from a procedure with sharp pain, affected bodily functions, internal bleeding, spinal column trauma, or another severe injury.

We serve as legal advocates for injured victims of medical malpractice and can help your family recover compensation. Our experienced medical malpractice lawyers currently represent clients throughout Illinois.

We handle cases where medical professionals fail to provide an acceptable medical standard of care, resulting in medical malpractice and pain and suffering for the patient. Contact us at (888) 424-5757 for a free consultation.

When a surgeon falls below that standard of care, they act negligently.

The Role of the Central Nervous System in Human Health

Nerves do not merely allow the brain to control other body areas. Nerves are the means through which the brain is aware of what is happening inside and outside the body.

The diminished capacity might impact motor function, circulation, and organ function. Unlike muscle tissue or bone, nerves are unable to repair or regenerate. Many medical malpractice cases involve patients with significant nerve damage, numbness, and other medical conditions after general anesthesia.

Scientists and medical experts research the body’s response to nerve damage to develop an effective treatment to repair or regenerate cells. Test results show that the brain sends special immune cells to the injury site tasked with cleaning up dead cells and clearing the area.

Anesthesia or Surgical Errors That May Result in Nerve Damage

A surgeon makes every effort possible to avoid significant nerves and clusters of neurons when performing surgery on a patient. An awareness of where nerves are located near an organ, limb, or tissue being repaired is essential to avoiding nerve damage during and following the procedure.

In nearly all cases, surgeons can make cuts in the wrong places. How life-threatening problems by the medical staff could happen include:

Anesthesia errors: When anesthesiologists administer anesthesia, they must ensure that the patient is in the correct position to limit the risks of perforating the wrong area.
Oxygen deprivation: Some surgical procedures require individuals to be placed into positions that cut blood flow circulation to specific body areas. During surgery, the medical team monitors the patient’s vitals to ensure that oxygen levels are sufficient to prevent tissue and nerve death.
Compression: While nerve damage is most often associated with the laceration of significant nerves by a surgical instrument, injury can also occur when the nerve is pinched or compressed. Damage can happen when even minimal pressure is placed on nerve clusters during surgery, and the problem is not noticed or corrected, leading to substantial nerve pain.

The Long-Term Impact of Nerve Damage from a Surgical Procedure

Our nerves are responsible for so much more than the ability to move our bodies and sense things through touch. Nerve damage caused by a negligent surgeon can leave injuries that may impact the victim’s quality of life and can include the following symptoms and issues:

Hypersensitivity: Partially damaged nerves may send signals more rapidly, indicating tingles, nerve pain, and temperature sensitivity.
Incontinence: Our bladder and bowel functions are dependent on healthy nerve function. Nerve damage can result in loss of bladder control. The emotional distress that can accompany this condition is considerable.
Digestive problems: Nerve damage can impact the digestive tract, resulting in various painful and debilitating gastrointestinal concerns.
Muscle atrophy: When a nerve stops communicating with a limb or muscle, the muscle begins to lose mass due to a lack of use.

Surgical Nerve Damage Complication FAQs

Our attorneys understand that many families have unanswered questions about surgical errors. Therefore, we have selected a few of them for our lawyers to answer.

For further information, do not hesitate to contact us at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone call).

Can nerve damage after surgery be reversed?

On nearly every surgery incident in close proximity to the nerve, it cannot be healed completely. However, the surgeon can recommend numerous treatments to reduce common symptoms associated with nerve damage.

Unfortunately, however, damage to the nervous system is often a progressive condition.

Can you sue the anesthesiologist for nerve damage in a medical negligence lawsuit?

Yes, you can. Making a mistake while administering general anesthesia could result in overall nerve damage, such as the inability to sense pain or discomfort.

Regional anesthesia involves a shot to the spinal column. During this process of local anesthesia, the anesthesiologist must avoid direct contact between the needle and one of the patient’s nerves.

Can you permanently damage nerve tissue?

The injury’s severity level will determine if the patient’s nerve damage is temporary or permanent. In some cases, it can be treated or repaired, primarily if a neck laceration occurs by the physician during the medical procedure.

Many individuals with permanent nerve damage experience chronic pain, and others develop skin sores that refuse to heal.

How can you prove nerve damage in an Illinois medical malpractice case?

Every surgery comes with risks. However, nerve damage is a typical medical malpractice case due to the high risk of this injury during many different medical procedures. Therefore, one hires a competent healthcare professional to establish proof in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The pain and suffering caused by nerve damage are difficult to communicate. Neurologists and other doctors can test the conduct of a damaged nerve using an electrical test like the NCV (nerve conduction velocity) test.

If the electrical impulse cannot pass to the nerve, it typically proves that there is significant damage, including severed tissue.

Doctors can also evaluate and diagnose injury to the nerve that has symptoms of numbness and weakness in their appendages (legs or arms).

How much does it cost to live with paralysis due to a nerve injury following a surgical error?

In the worst cases, our Chicago surgical malpractice lawyers represented clients who must continue their life without complete motor function due to surgical nerve damage complications. Continuous physical therapy and a complete lifestyle change require some serious monetary investment.

According to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the medical expenses for a patient with partial paralysis can amount to over $347,484 in the first year and over $42,000 a year after that.

If an injury should result in tetraplegia (quadriplegia), the medical bills quickly skyrocket to over $1 million in the first year and $185,000 per year for the rest of the person’s life.

Even partial paralysis can have a devastating financial impact on a family, resulting in lost wages and the rising cost of medical care. Because of that, many victims will hire a medical negligence injury attorney to sue for nerve damage from negligent healthcare providers that created a life-changing catastrophe.

Effective and Dedicated Surgical Error Attorneys Can File Your Nerve Damage From Surgery Lawsuit

If you or a loved one was a surgery patient and suffered nerve damage due to a surgical mistake, you might be able to recover damages for your medical costs, out-of-pocket expenses, pain and suffering, and more.

The expert medical law team at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC has helped thousands of people, just like you, recoup the compensation they need for their ongoing care through a medical malpractice lawsuit by holding the liable party accountable.

Contact our personal injury attorneys today at (888) 424-5757 (toll-free phone call) or through the contact form to arrange your free consultation with one of our award-winning Chicago attorneys.

All discussions you have with our Chicago negligent surgery attorneys will remain confidential through an attorney-client relationship.

Our law firm services are free to you should we fail to recover financial compensation on your behalf.

Resources:

Surgically-Inclined Nerve Damage | PubMed Central
About Nerve Surgery Center | Johns Hopkins Medicine