Surgeries Resulting In Cases Of Necrotizing Fasciitis: Can You Sue?
Necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating bacteria, is a rare occurrence. However, a fourth of all of the annual cases of this disease in the United States result in death. Some of these are caused by poor hospital conditions, unhygienic practices, and unsterilized medical equipment.
If you recently had any sort of surgery which resulted in a case of flesh-eating bacteria or had a family member die as a result of contracting flesh-eating bacteria after a surgical procedure, you may be wondering if you can sue.
You Got the Bacteria and Survived
Contracting flesh-eating bacteria after a simple surgery is not what you expected would happen. In fact, that was undoubtedly quite the ordeal for you. Unfortunately, you probably had a lot of necrotic (i.e., dead) tissue cut away from the surgical site in order to survive.
Now you are left with a massive scar and a constant reminder of what happened. If this can be traced back to the surgical suite or the instruments used during surgery, then yes, you can sue the hospital and the staff for medical malpractice.
In this case, you almost lost your life because someone failed to thoroughly clean and sterilize the operating room and/or its equipment. Your medical malpractice lawyer can help you sue for compensation of additional medical expenses, reimbursement of surgery costs for the original surgery that resulted in the contraction of the disease, and pain and suffering, as well as any psychological treatment after an emotional shock of this nature. Any future related costs should also be included with this lawsuit.
A Family Member Passed away after Contracting Flesh-Eating Bacteria, Post-Op
When you are the surviving spouse or adult child of a family member that passed away as a result of contracting flesh-eating bacteria after a simple surgery, you can sue. You can still sue on grounds of medical malpractice, except that you would be suing for payment of medical bills, psychiatric counseling for ongoing grief, compensation for funeral expenses, and loss of income if the deceased was the major breadwinner in the family.
Your case still rests on the burden of proof that the disease was a medical malpractice suit, but if your family member contracted it while still in the hospital, or it started just prior to being released, you "burden of proof" should not be too difficult.
For more information, contact a law firm such as Shay & Associates to discuss your situation.
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