Undergoing surgery can be stressful and scary. It can be even more terrifying to wake up and find that something is wrong. In some cases, errors and mistakes on the operating table can cause nerve damage that translates to partial paralysis, pain, discomfort, and other physical effects for the patient. If you or a loved one suffered these kinds of effects after surgery in Texas, call The Queenan Law Firm for help today.
Our Dallas attorneys for nerve damage caused by surgery may be able to help you file a medical malpractice lawsuit against your doctor and fight to get you compensation for your injuries. While nerve damage may result in permanent injuries, the compensation you receive through a lawsuit can help support you and your family through the injury. For a free legal consultation on your case, call our law offices today at (817) 476-1797.
Nerve Damage from Surgery Lawyer in Texas
When you undergo surgery or other medical procedures, your doctor should take the proper care to ensure that you are not injured. A physician’s oath to “do no harm” is not an official requirement, but doctors are still held to high standards when operating on patients. In any case, the doctor is required to use the proper care and skill that a reasonable doctor in that situation would use, and anything less than that is unacceptable.
If you suffered nerve injuries because your doctor nicked a nerve or caused other collateral damage during surgery, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit to seek compensation for the injuries you faced. Nerve damage can have many odd effects on your life going forward, from constant pain and discomfort to complete paralysis in the injured location. This can affect not only your day-to-day abilities and tasks but also your work and income.
These kinds of injuries often entitle victims to compensation for the harm they suffered. You may be able to take the negligent doctor who injured you to court and fight to get compensation for your injury. Working with our Dallas attorneys for nerve damage caused by surgery, you may be able to file your claim in court and get the compensation you need to help you move past the injury and get on with your life.
Proving Surgical Errors and Nerve Damage in Malpractice Cases
One of your biggest concerns about suing your doctor is stress over whether or not you can prove the injury was the doctor’s fault. Unlike most injury cases, the issue of who is at fault is not typically an issue in medical malpractice cases. In most surgical procedures, the patient is unconscious and the doctor has full control. That typically means that if anyone did anything wrong, it was the doctor. The main battle in the case will instead be proving whether what your physician did was truly negligent or not.
When a medical malpractice case goes to court, it is up to the jury to decide whether the care you received fell below the applicable standards of the “duty of care.” Each side will typically present a medical expert to testify as to whether the care was proper or not based on their medical training and experience. Your doctor will typically try to defend against the claim by arguing that the injuries you received were within the realm of the typical side effects and complications of the procedure. Working with an experienced medical malpractice injury lawyer and a qualified expert witness can help you reject this claim and prove once and for all that the injury you sustained was due to negligent healthcare.
Damages in a Nerve Injury Lawsuit
When you face an injury, you are typically entitled to claim damages in two main areas. The first is “economic damages.” These are paid to reimburse the victim for any expenses they paid or money they lost because of the injury. The goal with these damages is to put the victim back to the same financial position they were in before the injury by covering the cost of medical bills, lost wages, future projected medical costs, ongoing reduced earning capacity at work, and other financial harms. In addition to these damages, you can claim “noneconomic” damages to compensate you for intangible things such as pain and suffering.
The damages you claim for medical bills, lost wages, and other economic damages should be paid in full. Doctors typically use medical malpractice insurance to pay damages when victims of medical malpractice claim they were unjustly injured. Accepting a settlement for your claim may not cover these damages in full, but when you take your case to court, you can claim the full value of these harms.
The damages you claim for noneconomic damages are typically based on your experience of the situation rather than some objective amount on a hospital bill or bank statement. This means that these damages are typically proven by testifying to how the injury affected you and your life. Unfortunately, Texas does have a legal cap on these damages, which typically limits you to $250,000 for pain and suffering when filing a lawsuit against one healthcare provider or hospital, doubling the cap to $500,000 for suits against multiple care providers.
Call Our Dallas Surgical Error and Nerve Damage Lawyers Today for a Free Consultation
If you or a loved one suffered nerve damage after undergoing surgery in Texas, call Our Dallas attorneys for nerve damage caused by surgery today. The Queenan Law Firm’s medical malpractice and surgical error lawyers represent victims and their families and work to get them compensation after negligent procedures and unjustified injuries. For your free legal consultation, call our law offices today at (817) 476-1797.