Post surgery infections are a common risk typically assumed from a surgery. This means that a healthcare provider will explain to the patient that the risks of the surgery or procedure include infection, and that a patient understands this is a normal risk and assumes the risk of getting an infection to go through with the surgery or procedure. A common surgery which especially has that risk is an appendectomy. This is a surgery to remove an inflamed or burst appendix, which is naturally full of caustic and vile bacteria which breed infection. However, this does not mean that an infection is always occurring after this surgery, nor does it mean that a patient assumes the risk of sepsis—a prolific infection. In these instances, it may be due to Oregon medical malpractice and a patient should call a Portland medical malpractice lawyer.
The risks of an appendectomy include just like any other procedure, which always include reactions to anesthesia, nerve injury, infection, scarring, and other similar injuries or complications. But an appendectomy has a higher risk of infection (and lower for nerve damage). This is because the appendix is attached to your lower bowels, meaning food is largely broken down (processed) and there is a larger amount of bacteria and other infectious material. This means that a leak from here into your abdominal cavity could result in very serious personal injury with wide-spread infection.
Many times, a patient’s appendix may have burst and this bacteria spread into the body even before the patient gets to the doctor. This means that the bacteria has already been able to get into the entire abdominal cavity—which is an ideal breeding-ground for an infection because it is warm, moist, and “protected” from antibodies and most other automatic defenses the body has.
Even though the risk of infection is high after an appendectomy, this does not mean that the risk of infection was not caused or accelerated by Oregon medical malpractice. For instance, if the infection was caused by one of the following conditions it may be due to more than just a normal risk:
Even though an appendectomy is a very risky surgery in terms of causing an infection, it does not meant that it is not acceptable for all appendectomies to result in that infection. It also does not mean that the infection can be misdiagnosed or result in sepsis. While patients assume the risk of an infection, we do not assume the risks of that infection being misdiagnosed, delayed in diagnosis, or missed. That is separate Oregon medical malpractice that needs to be dealt with.
If this happened to you, please call our Portland medical malpractice lawyer to learn what your rights to compensation may be under Oregon law. We accept cases throughout Oregon, including Central Oregon, Deschutes County, Salem, Portland, Eugene, Gresham, Hillsboro, Medford, and any other city, including Bend, Oregon where our main law office is located. Please call Kuhlman Law, LLC by dialing (541) 385-1999 to learn what your rights to compensation you may have. You may also contact us using our easy and convenient “contact us” box at the bottom of our website. If we accept your case, we will conduct a thorough investigation to get you the answers you deserve, all for free. There is no risk, and you only pay us if we recover compensation for you.