Surgery Malpractice Guide

What a surgery review usually focuses on

Operative technique, consent, complications, and recovery. A case review should reconstruct the sequence of pre-op evaluation, operative technique, intraoperative complication response, post-op monitoring, and discharge and follow-up from the records available at each decision point.

Five decision points to map

• 1. Pre-op evaluation
• 2. Operative technique
• 3. Intraoperative complication response
• 4. Post-op monitoring
• 5. Discharge and follow-up

Records that can answer those questions

• Surgery consultation, procedure, or encounter notes
• Orders and test results used to make the clinical decision
• Medication, monitoring, procedure, or nursing records tied to the event
• Communication with the patient and other specialties
• Later treatment showing the complication, corrected diagnosis, or outcome

Expert and causation questions

• What training and specialty should the reviewing surgery expert have under state law?
• Which of the key decision points in operative technique, consent, complications, and recovery is actually being challenged?
• What information was available at that time, not only in hindsight?
• What part of the later harm is attributable to the underlying illness or known risk?
• Would a different medical decision probably have changed treatment or outcome?

Related specialties