Yes, if a surgeon's negligence leads to nerve damage, a patient may be eligible to file a medical malpractice claim to seek compensation for the physical, emotional, and financial consequences of the injury. In the United States, about 40 to 50 million major surgeries are performed annually. With such a high volume of procedures, medical errors such as surgical mistakes, have become a significant concern.
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If you believe that you or a loved one has suffered nerve damage due to a surgical error, it's advisable to consult with an experienced nerve damage lawyer who can guide you through the legal process and work to secure appropriate compensation for your injuries.
Key Takeaways: When Nerve Damage Becomes Malpractice
To pursue a medical malpractice claim for surgical nerve damage, you must prove four key elements:
Duty of Care: The surgeon owed you a duty to provide care meeting accepted medical standards. This duty exists once a doctor-patient relationship is established.
Breach of Standard of Care: The surgeon deviated from what a reasonably competent surgeon would have done in the same circumstances. This could include cutting a nerve that should have been identified and avoided, using excessive force, failing to properly position the patient, or proceeding without necessary skill or experience.
Causation: The surgeon's breach directly caused your nerve damage. You must show a clear link between the error and your injury, proving it wasn't simply an unavoidable risk of surgery.
Damages: You suffered actual harm that can be compensated. This includes medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and impacts on your daily life.
A qualified nerve damage lawyer can work with medical experts to establish these elements and build a strong case on your behalf.
How Surgical Errors Cause Nerve Damage
Two kinds of healthcare professional mistakes can lead to nerve damage during surgery:
Physical injury errors
Surgeons operate close to nerves using surgical tools. Any slight pressure, stretching, or cutting done on the nerves can damage them. For example, a cut to the nerve can cause it to no longer transmit signals because the signal cannot jump through a gap in the nerve.
Common physical errors include:
- Direct cutting: Accidentally severing a nerve with a scalpel, scissors, or cautery device
- Stretch or traction injury: Pulling nerves too far with retractors or awkward limb positioning during long operations
- Compression injury: Pressure from retractors, clamps, or swelling that squeezes the nerve
- Thermal injury: Heat from electrocautery burning the nerve
- Poor positioning: Placing the patient's arms or legs in ways that put prolonged pressure on nerves
Anesthesia-related errors
Patients may also face potentially long-term nerve damage due to errors in different anesthesia procedures. Here are some of its common types:
| Procedure | Risk |
|---|---|
| Local Anesthesia | Risk of nerve damage when the syringe directly comes into contact with it. |
| Regional Anesthesia | Potential for nerve damage when injected into the spinal column due to the dense concentration of nerves. |
| General Anesthesia | Risk of nerve damage due to the patient's inability to sense discomfort in an uncomfortable position leads. |
When anesthesia errors happen, victims may have to deal with chronic pain, disability, or even death. The medical malpractice lawyers at the Porter Law Group aim to hold medical professionals accountable for their negligence, seek justice for individual victims and help to improve overall patient safety. For Surgical Errors or Orthopedic Malpractice, we have the experience and extensive connections with board-certified medical experts to help you mount the best case, and recover the compensation you deserve.
3 Types of Nerve Injuries
Nerve injury is split into three types: Damage to neurapraxia, axonotmesis, and neurotmesis.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Neurapraxia | This is a minor injury, in which there is a temporary loss of nerve function, without any damage to the nerve. |
| Axonotmesis | This is a more serious injury, in which the nerves are stretched, causing nerve damage. With time, spontaneous recovery may occur. But in rare drastic cases, surgery may be required. |
| Neurotmesis | A severe nerve injury where the nerve is completely severed. |
Neurotmesis has no chance of spontaneous recovery. Given its severity and irreversible nature, neurotmesis underscores the critical importance of surgical precision and the potential consequences of medical negligence.
Signs and Symptoms of Nerve Damage
Nerve damage can cause various symptoms, depending on the location and type of nerves affected.
| Type of Nerve | Common Symptoms |
|---|---|
| Autonomic Nerves | - Inability to sense chest pain<br>- Hyperhidrosis or too little sweating (known as anhidrosis)<br>- Lightheadedness<br>- Dry eyes and mouth<br>- Constipation<br>- Bladder dysfunction<br>- Sexual dysfunction |
| Motor Nerves | - Weakness<br>- Muscle atrophy<br>- Twitching<br>- Paralysis |
| Sensory Nerve | - Pain<br>- Sensitivity<br>- Numbness<br>- Tingling or prickling<br>- Burning<br>- Problems with positional awareness |
Surgical errors can result in complex symptoms of damaged nerves and life-long consequences. If you experience any of these symptoms following a surgical procedure, you must talk to a doctor immediately.
Common Situations Where Surgical Nerve Damage Happens
Nerve injuries can occur in almost any operation, but they are most common in surgeries where nerves run close to the surgical site or are easily compressed by positioning or retractors.
High-risk procedures include:
- Orthopedic surgeries: Hip and knee replacements, shoulder surgeries, spinal fusions, and discectomies carry risk to sciatic, femoral, peroneal, and spinal nerves
- Abdominal and pelvic surgeries: Hernia repairs, hysterectomies, C-sections, appendectomies, and gallbladder removal can affect abdominal and pelvic nerves
- Neck and thyroid surgery: Thyroidectomy, parathyroid surgery, and neck dissection risk damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve, which can cause hoarseness or voice loss
- Plastic and cosmetic surgery: Facelifts, breast augmentation or reduction, and tummy tucks carry risk to facial, intercostobrachial, and other sensory nerves
- Dental and oral surgery: Wisdom tooth extraction and jaw surgery can damage inferior alveolar and lingual nerves, causing numbness in the jaw, tongue, or lips
- Cardiac and thoracic surgery: Open heart surgery and lung surgery carry risk to phrenic, intercostal, and other nerves
Treatment Options and Associated Costs
Nerve injuries caused by surgical errors are not impossible to treat. In cases where it results in a gap between the ends of the nerve and cannot be re-connected, they are typically treated with the following nerve grafts:
Autografts. Nerve tissues are sourced from within your body. It is usually taken from a sensory nerve that provides sensation to an area of your skin where sensation is not vital.
Allografts. Nerve tissues are sourced from a cadaver. It is processed and sterilized to remove the risk of rejection and ensure it can be safely implanted.
These two graft procedures are performed to provide a pathway for axons in the nerve to re-grow across the gap. The cost of these procedures, according to a 2020 study, is as follows:
| Procedure | Inpatient | Outpatient |
|---|---|---|
| Allograft Cost | $25,751 | $13,143 |
| Autograft Cost | $29,560 | $12,635 |
Even after being discharged, patients often face significant ongoing costs associated with their medical procedures, such as prescribed drugs. As patients are prompted to recover after the surgery, many struggle to afford paying for their medication because they are unable to work.
For this reason, all medical expenses incurred (both past and future) due to medical malpractice should be compensated by liable healthcare providers.
What Compensation Can Include?
In New York, if nerve damage was caused by surgical negligence, the injured patient can recover both economic and non-economic damages. New York does not cap total damages in medical malpractice cases, so compensation can be substantial for serious, permanent injuries.
Economic Damages (Out-of-Pocket Losses)
- Past and future medical expenses: Hospital bills, surgery, nerve repair, pain management, medications, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and any future care needed
- Assistive devices and home modifications: Braces, wheelchairs, walkers, vehicle modifications, ramps, accessible bathrooms
- Past and future lost wages: Income lost while recovering and unable to work
- Loss of future earning capacity: If the nerve damage permanently limits your ability to work or forces a career change, an economist can calculate the lifetime loss of income
- Other out-of-pocket costs: Travel to appointments, home care, specialized equipment
Non-Economic Damages (Pain and Suffering)
- Physical pain and suffering: Chronic neuropathic pain, discomfort, and limitations from the injury
- Mental anguish and emotional distress: Depression, anxiety, PTSD, sleep problems, and frustration from the injury and its impact
- Loss of enjoyment of life: Inability to participate in hobbies, sports, social activities, and daily routines
- Loss of consortium: If the injury affects the marital relationship (companionship, intimacy, support), the spouse may also recover damages
A qualified nerve damage lawyer can help you document all damages and ensure you receive full compensation for your injuries.
How Long Do You Have to File in NY?
In New York, the general rule is that a medical malpractice claim must be filed within two years and six months (30 months) from the date of the negligent act (the surgery or other treatment that caused the nerve damage).
However, there are two important exceptions:
Continuous Treatment Doctrine: If you continue to receive treatment from the same doctor or hospital for the same condition after the surgery, the 2½-year clock usually starts from the end of that continuous treatment, not from the surgery date.
Foreign Object Exception: If a foreign object (like a sponge or instrument) is left inside the body, the statute of limitations may be extended, though this rarely applies to nerve damage itself.
Because the deadline is strict, patients who suspect surgical nerve damage should consult a nerve damage lawyer as soon as possible to avoid losing their right to sue.
How to Prove Negligence After Surgical Error
An initial investigation is required to prove negligence and establish a claim. Medical malpractice experts typically work with trusted medical consultants for this.
During said investigation, the legal team would aim to establish the following elements:
- Duty of Care - Was there an appropriate doctor-patient relationship?
- Breach of Duty - Did your doctor perform poorly or negligently based on accepted standards of care?
- Causation - Did your doctor's actions or inactions directly cause you harm?
- Damages - What did these errors cost you?
Once these elements have been pinpointed and established, the Porter Law Group's legal team can help you gather evidence, consult medical experts, and build a strong compensation case.
Average Settlement for Surgical Nerve Damage
It's important to understand that every nerve damage case is unique, and there are no exact settlement amounts that apply across the board. Settlement values vary widely based on several factors, including:
- The severity and permanence of your nerve injury
- Your age and life expectancy
- The impact on your ability to work and earn income
- The strength of the evidence proving negligence
- The extent of your pain, suffering, and disability
General settlement ranges based on recent cases:
- Mild, temporary nerve damage (such as neurapraxia that resolves within months): Often settles in the $15,000 to $75,000 range
- Moderate, longer-lasting damage (such as axonotmesis requiring months of therapy with some permanent symptoms): Often in the $75,000 to $300,000 range
- Severe, permanent nerve damage (such as neurotmesis with paralysis, chronic pain, or major disability): Can reach $500,000 to $2 million or more, especially if the patient is young and can no longer work
Recent examples include a sciatic nerve injury during hip replacement that settled for $1.9 million, a peroneal nerve transection during orthopedic surgery that settled for $1.3 million, and a catastrophic epidural malpractice case resulting in a $60 million verdict.
While these examples demonstrate the potential value of nerve damage claims, your case will be evaluated on its own merits. The Porter Law Group has extensive experience in nerve damage cases and works diligently to maximize your settlement by thoroughly documenting your injuries, consulting with top medical experts, and aggressively negotiating with insurance companies or presenting your case at trial when necessary.
Are You Suffering From Nerve Damage Because of a Medical Error?
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At the Porter Law Group, our team of proven medical malpractice lawyers delivers ideal results. We take pride in helping families rebuild after unfavorable circumstances. We operate on a contingency basis, meaning you do not need to pay us anything unless we win your case. Through this approach, we can better support families during their times of need.
If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice, please reach out to us for a non-obligatory free case evaluation. You can also contact us at 833-PORTER9 or info@porterlawteam.com to schedule a consultation.
