One type of harm that sometimes results from errors by medical professionals or hospitals during a surgery is nerve damage. Nerve damage can have many impacts on the life of a surgical patient; for example, it can sometimes impair their mobility. Mobility impairments can cause a person to face many costs, including costs for mobility assistance devices and costs for making changes to one’s home to accommodate such impairments.
Here in Illinois, a woman has recently alleged that the actions of a doctor led to her suffering mobility-impairing nerve damage.
According to the woman, on Jan. 31, 2012, she underwent a hip replacement surgery performed by the doctor. She claims that the doctor committed negligent actions during the surgery that caused damage to her sciatic nerve.
The woman claims that the sciatic nerve injury has caused ambulation to be painful for her, limited her mobility and made her more vulnerable to falls, trips and stumbles.
The woman is suing the doctor over the nerve damage. Her lawsuit was filed in a court in Madison County.
One of the main things that can impact whether a person who has suffered nerve damage during a surgical procedure is entitled to compensation for the impacts and costs the nerve damage has given rise to is whether the damage was caused by surgical negligence. Looking into whether medical professional errors or hospital errors occurred during a surgery is one of the services medical malpractice attorneys can perform for individuals who have been hurt in surgical procedures.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Woman says doctor injured her sciatic nerve during surgery,” Kelly Holleran, Feb. 6, 2014