Unexpected Surgical Results? Call Our Surgical Malpractice Lawyer in Bend and Portland, Oregon for Help
Surgical errors represent one of the most devastating forms of medical malpractice, affecting thousands of patients across the United States each year. Although individuals undergo surgery in hope that their condition will improve, our experienced surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend and Portland, Oregon knows that this is unfortunately not always the case. Surgical errors can cause extreme harm to individuals and their loved ones. Errors occur across the healthcare spectrum, with approximately 10% of preventable medical errors occurring in the surgical setting. Even though surgical complications can occur for other reasons outside of medical malpractice, approximately 1 in 5 surgical complications are the result of an error. In Oregon, patients who undergo surgery trust their surgical teams to provide competent, careful care, yet when that trust is broken through negligence, the consequences can be life-altering or even fatal.
Here at Kuhlman Law, our medical malpractice law firm can help you navigate the complex legal process of pursuing compensation for your injuries. Our experienced attorney and compassionate staff can investigate your case, consult with medical experts to establish the standard of care and how it was breached, and fight to recover damages for your medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other losses resulting from surgical negligence. Since surgical errors are very serious cases that can result in catastrophic or fatal injuries, do not delay and contact us at once for help.
Common Surgical Errors in Oregon: Call Our Surgical Malpractice Lawyer in Bend
Surgical errors occur for numerous reasons, ranging from inadequate preparation and poor communication to fatigue, incompetence, and reckless disregard for patient safety. Sometimes they also are caused by errors due to a lack of skill and ability of a surgeon or team, including even just a slip up during a procedure. Understanding the common causes of surgical malpractice can help patients and families recognize when negligence has occurred and whether they may have grounds for a legal claim.
Some of the most common causes of surgical errors in Oregon include the following:
Wrong-Site, Wrong-Procedure, and Wrong-Patient Surgery
Among the most egregious surgical errors are those involving operating on the wrong body part, performing the wrong procedure, or even operating on the wrong patient entirely. These “never events” are considered completely preventable through proper protocols, including surgical site marking, pre-operative verification processes, and surgical time-outs. When healthcare providers fail to follow established safety procedures—such as those outlined in The Joint Commission’s Universal Protocol—and perform surgery on the wrong site or patient, the results can be devastating and constitute clear negligence. An article from the American College of Surgeons states that the most common injuries caused by wrong-site errors includes the need for additional surgery, mobility impairment, pain, wrongful death, worsening of pain/injury, and scarring.
Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists play critical roles in surgical safety, yet errors in administering anesthesia represent a significant category of surgical malpractice. Common anesthesia mistakes include administering too much or too little anesthesia, failing to properly monitor the patient’s vital signs during surgery, neglecting to review the patient’s medical history for allergies or contraindications, intubation errors that deprive the patient of oxygen, and delayed response to complications. Anesthesia errors can result in brain damage, stroke, heart attack, permanent injury, or death.
Foreign Objects and Surgical Instruments Left Inside Patients
Retained surgical instruments and materials—including sponges, towels, needles, scalpels, and other surgical tools—represent another preventable category of surgical malpractice. Healthcare facilities use counting protocols to ensure all instruments and materials used during surgery are accounted for before closing the surgical site. When surgical teams fail to properly count instruments or ignore discrepancies in counts, patients may suffer serious complications including infection, internal injuries, chronic pain, and the need for additional surgery to remove the retained object. These are often considered to be “never” events and should always be reviewed by an experienced surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland, Oregon for help.
Damage to Organs, Nerves, or Blood Vessels
During surgery, healthcare providers must exercise extreme care to avoid damaging structures adjacent to the surgical site. Surgical malpractice may occur when a surgeon accidentally cuts, punctures, or otherwise damages organs, nerves, blood vessels, or other anatomical structures that should not have been affected by the procedure. While some risk of injury to surrounding structures exists in any surgery, negligent technique, inadequate knowledge of anatomy, poor visualization, or failure to exercise reasonable care can result in preventable injuries such as severed nerves causing paralysis or loss of function, punctured organs causing internal bleeding or infection, or damaged blood vessels leading to stroke or other vascular complications.
Inadequate Pre-Operative Planning
Proper surgical planning is essential to patient safety. Surgical malpractice may stem from inadequate pre-operative assessment and planning, including failing to review the patient’s complete medical history, neglecting to order necessary diagnostic tests before surgery, failing to obtain informed consent by not adequately explaining risks and alternatives, proceeding with surgery despite contraindications, or inadequate planning for known complications. When surgeons rush into procedures without proper preparation, patients face increased risks of preventable harm. This is particularly true for birth injury cases such as c-section errors, which can also be surgical mistakes and require either a birth injury lawyer or surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland.
Post-Operative Negligence
Surgical malpractice doesn’t end when the procedure is complete. Healthcare providers have ongoing responsibilities to monitor patients during recovery, manage post-operative complications, and provide appropriate follow-up care. Post-operative negligence may include failing to recognize or respond to signs of infection, inadequate pain management, premature discharge before the patient is stable, failing to provide proper wound care instructions, neglecting to monitor for complications such as blood clots, internal bleeding, or sepsis, or failing to schedule necessary follow-up appointments. These oversights can transform minor post-operative issues into serious, life-threatening complications for patients in the PACU.
Lack of Informed Consent
Oregon law requires healthcare providers to obtain a patient’s informed consent before performing surgery. This means surgeons must explain the nature of the procedure, its risks and benefits, available alternatives, and the likely consequences of declining treatment. When surgeons fail to adequately inform patients or proceed with surgery despite the patient’s lack of understanding or refusal to consent to certain aspects of the procedure, they may be liable for malpractice even if the surgery itself was performed competently.
Communication Failures
Effective communication among surgical team members is critical to patient safety, yet communication breakdowns remain a leading cause of surgical errors. These failures may occur between surgeons and assisting staff, during shift changes when patient care is transferred, between surgical and anesthesia teams, or when critical patient information is not properly documented or conveyed. Poor communication can result in incorrect procedures being performed, allergies or medical conditions being overlooked, or important safety protocols being skipped. Other times a surgeon may make an errors and intentionally avoid a patient and his or her family, those highlighting the errors caused and that a surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland may be needed to help with your claim.
Who Is Responsible for Surgical Malpractice?
Determining liability in surgical malpractice cases can be complex because multiple parties may bear responsibility for a patient’s injuries. Oregon law recognizes several theories under which different individuals and entities may be held accountable for surgical negligence. Even in clear cases of malpractice and medical negligence, victims and their families should always consult with an experienced surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland.
Some of the most common defendants who could be liable for surgical errors in Oregon that attorney Christopher Kuhlman could handle for you include the following:
Surgeons and Assistant Surgeons
The operating surgeon typically bears primary responsibility for surgical malpractice. Surgeons owe their patients a duty to exercise the degree of skill, care, and learning possessed by other reasonably careful surgeons in the same or similar circumstances. When a surgeon’s negligence—whether through incompetence, carelessness, or deviation from accepted standards—causes patient harm, the surgeon may be held directly liable for resulting injuries. This liability extends to errors made during the surgical procedure itself, as well as to inadequate pre-operative planning and post-operative care failures. Additionally, assistance surgeons may also be liable when exercising independent medical judgment during a procedure. Most of the time the assistant surgeons are also doctors or surgeons on second call.
Anesthesiologists and Nurse Anesthetists
Anesthesia providers have independent duties to patients and may be held separately liable for anesthesia errors. Whether an anesthesiologist (a physician) or a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) administered anesthesia, these professionals must properly assess patients before surgery, select appropriate anesthetic agents and dosages, monitor patients throughout the procedure, and manage any complications that arise. Negligence by anesthesia providers constitutes a separate basis for liability from the surgeon’s conduct. Our experienced surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland knows that anesthesiologists are one of the most sued specialties in medicine, noticeably because of their errors.
Nurses and Surgical Staff
Operating room nurses, surgical technicians, and other support staff play vital roles in surgical safety. These professionals may be held liable for negligence including failing to properly count surgical instruments and materials, not maintaining sterile conditions in the operating room, medication errors, failing to properly position the patient to prevent nerve damage or pressure injuries, or neglecting to report concerns about the surgeon’s conduct or the patient’s condition. In many cases, hospitals may also be vicariously liable for negligence by nursing and support staff under the legal doctrine of respondeat superior (a type of vicarious liability).
Hospitals and Surgical Centers
Healthcare facilities where surgeries are performed may bear institutional liability for surgical malpractice through several legal theories. Under respondeat superior, hospitals are vicariously liable for negligent acts committed by their employees (such as nurses and employed physicians) within the scope of employment. Hospitals may also face direct liability for their own negligence, including negligent credentialing by granting surgical privileges to incompetent or unqualified physicians, inadequate staffing that contributes to errors or missed complications, failing to maintain proper equipment or ensure availability of necessary supplies, inadequate policies and procedures for surgical safety, or failing to properly train staff or enforce safety protocols.
Oregon follows the “corporate negligence” doctrine, which recognizes that hospitals have direct duties to patients that are independent of the duties owed by individual healthcare providers. When a hospital’s systemic failures contribute to surgical errors, the facility itself may be held accountable. Additionally, an employer who fails to competently hire and train their employees could also be liable for medical errors – especially when they know that a surgeon or another healthcare provider is a problem employee and negligent, reckless or careless.
Assisting and Consulting Physicians
In complex surgeries, multiple physicians may be involved, including surgical assistants, consulting specialists, and supervising physicians. Each of these professionals owes independent duties to the patient and may be held liable for their own negligence. For example, if a radiologist misreads a pre-operative scan and the surgeon relies on that misinterpretation in planning the surgery, both may share liability for resulting harm. Similarly, if a supervising surgeon negligently allows an inexperienced resident or fellow to perform a procedure beyond their skill level, the supervisor may be held liable for negligence that attorney Chris Kuhlman could represent you for in Oregon.
Medical Device Manufacturers
In some cases, surgical errors result not from healthcare provider negligence but from defective medical devices or equipment. If a surgical instrument malfunctions, an implanted device is defectively designed or manufactured, or equipment failures contribute to patient injury, the device manufacturer may be held liable under products liability laws. These claims differ from traditional medical malpractice and are generally subject to different statutes of limitations and procedural requirements.
Multiple Parties and Joint Liability
Surgical malpractice often involves multiple parties whose combined negligence contributed to the patient’s injuries. Oregon follows a modified comparative negligence system under which damages are apportioned according to each party’s percentage of fault. This means multiple defendants may share liability, with each responsible for their proportionate share of the total damages. Identifying all potentially liable parties is crucial to ensuring full compensation for injured patients. These are very difficult cases that should be handled by an experienced surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland, Oregon.
Injuries Caused by Surgical Malpractice
The injuries resulting from surgical negligence range from relatively minor complications requiring additional treatment to catastrophic, life-altering harm and wrongful death. Understanding the types and severity of injuries caused by surgical malpractice is essential for both recognizing when malpractice has occurred and quantifying the full extent of damages in a legal claim.
Some of the most common injuries and conditions caused by surgical errors in Oregon that our surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend could handle for you include the following:
Infections
Post-surgical infections represent one of the most common complications arising from surgical negligence. When healthcare providers fail to maintain sterile conditions, properly clean and close surgical sites, prescribe appropriate prophylactic antibiotics, or recognize and treat early signs of infection, patients may develop serious infections including surgical site infections, sepsis (life-threatening bloodstream infection), osteomyelitis (bone infection), or necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating bacteria). Severe infections can require prolonged hospitalization, additional surgeries, intravenous antibiotics, and may result in permanent disability or death.
Internal Bleeding and Hemorrhage
Surgical errors can cause internal bleeding that, if not promptly recognized and treated, may lead to hemorrhagic shock, organ damage, or death. Internal bleeding may result from inadvertently cutting blood vessels during surgery, failing to properly cauterize or suture bleeding vessels, or post-operative negligence in monitoring for signs of internal hemorrhage. Patients who experience significant blood loss may require blood transfusions, emergency surgery to locate and stop the bleeding, and extended recovery periods.
Nerve Damage
Surgical procedures carry risks of nerve injury, but negligent technique, improper patient positioning, or failure to exercise reasonable care can cause preventable nerve damage. Depending on which nerves are affected, patients may experience chronic pain, numbness and tingling, loss of sensation, muscle weakness or paralysis, loss of bowel or bladder control, or sexual dysfunction. Nerve injuries can be temporary or permanent, with some patients requiring pain management, physical therapy, or additional surgical interventions.
Organ Damage or Failure
When surgeons accidentally perforate, lacerate, or otherwise damage internal organs, the consequences can be severe. Organ damage may lead to loss of organ function requiring dialysis, organ transplantation, or lifelong medical management, internal infections or abscesses, chronic pain and digestive issues, or the need for additional surgeries and extended recovery. Common examples include punctured bowels during abdominal surgery, kidney damage during urological procedures, or liver lacerations during gallbladder surgery.
Brain Damage and Anoxic Injuries
Anesthesia errors, surgical delays in responding to complications, or excessive bleeding can deprive the brain of oxygen, resulting in hypoxic or anoxic brain injuries. Even brief periods of oxygen deprivation can cause permanent brain damage, leading to cognitive impairments affecting memory, reasoning, and judgment, personality changes, seizure disorders, loss of motor function or coordination, or persistent vegetative state. Brain injuries are often catastrophic, requiring lifelong care and dramatically impacting both patients and their families. Due to the catastrophic and often fatal nature of brain injuries, an experienced surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland should always be consulted.
Unnecessary Loss of Organ or Limb
Surgical errors may result in patients losing organs, limbs, or body parts that could have been saved with proper care. This may occur through wrong-site surgery where a healthy organ or limb is removed, delayed diagnosis or treatment of complications leading to gangrene or tissue death, or infections or injuries during surgery that necessitate removal of structures that should have been preserved. The loss of organs or limbs can result in permanent disability, disfigurement, loss of function, need for prosthetics or assistive devices, and significant psychological trauma. A surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland should always be consulted when a victim has a loss of a limb due to the irreversible damage that it causes.
Scarring and Disfigurement
While some scarring is inevitable with surgery, excessive or disfiguring scars may result from negligence including poor surgical technique, improper wound closure, infections due to inadequate sterile procedures, or keloid formation due to failure to consider patient risk factors. Significant scarring, particularly on visible areas of the body, can cause emotional distress, self-consciousness, and may require reconstructive surgery.
Wrongful Death
The most tragic outcome of surgical malpractice is the preventable death of a patient. Surgical errors can prove fatal through hemorrhage and blood loss, unrecognized or untreated infections leading to sepsis, anesthesia errors causing cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, pulmonary embolism or blood clots that could have been prevented, or post-operative complications that go unrecognized or untreated. When surgical negligence causes a patient’s death, surviving family members may pursue a wrongful death claim under Oregon law to recover damages for their loss. Recovering compensation for a loved one’s conscious pain and suffering before passing away and for wrongful death damages after for the entire family is complicated and should be handled by a surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland.
Chronic Pain and Suffering
Many victims of surgical malpractice endure chronic, debilitating pain that persists long after the initial injury. This pain may result from nerve damage, scar tissue formation, chronic infections, or improperly healed surgical sites. Chronic pain can severely diminish quality of life, limit physical activities, interfere with work and relationships, and lead to depression, anxiety, and other psychological conditions. Pain management may require ongoing medication, physical therapy, nerve blocks, or additional surgical interventions.
Psychological and Emotional Trauma
The psychological impact of surgical malpractice should not be underestimated. Patients who have suffered surgical errors often experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety, fear of medical procedures and healthcare providers, loss of trust in the medical system, or emotional distress related to permanent disfigurement or disability. These psychological injuries may require counseling, therapy, or psychiatric treatment and can be as debilitating as physical injuries.
Need for Corrective Surgery
Many surgical malpractice victims require additional operations to correct the errors made during the initial procedure. Revision surgeries carry their own risks and require additional recovery time, medical expenses, and time away from work. Some patients undergo multiple corrective procedures before achieving an acceptable outcome, while others never fully recover from the initial negligence.
Financial Consequences
Beyond the physical and emotional harm, surgical malpractice often imposes severe financial burdens on victims and their families. Injured patients may face mounting medical bills, loss of income due to extended recovery periods, reduced earning capacity if permanent disabilities prevent returning to previous employment, costs of ongoing care, medications, and medical equipment, home modifications to accommodate disabilities, or transportation costs for medical appointments and therapy. These economic damages can devastate families financially, making legal compensation essential for rebuilding lives after surgical negligence.
How a Surgical Malpractice Lawyer in Bend Can Help You After Surgical Errors Due to Medical Malpractice
Pursuing a surgical malpractice claim in Oregon requires extensive legal knowledge, medical expertise, and substantial resources. A qualified medical malpractice attorney in Bend provides invaluable assistance throughout every stage of your case, beginning with a thorough investigation of what occurred during your surgery and whether the harm you suffered resulted from negligence.
Your attorney will obtain and review your complete medical records, surgical reports, anesthesia logs, nursing notes, and all documentation related to your procedure. This comprehensive review helps identify potential deviations from the accepted standard of care. Because medical malpractice cases hinge on proving that a healthcare provider’s negligence caused your injuries, your lawyer will work with qualified medical experts who can analyze your case and provide testimony about how your surgical team failed to meet professional standards.
A Bend surgical malpractice lawyer also handles all communications and negotiations with the healthcare provider’s insurance company and defense attorneys. Medical malpractice insurers often attempt to minimize payouts or deny claims altogether, employing aggressive defense tactics to avoid liability. Your attorney serves as your advocate, protecting your rights and ensuring you’re not pressured into accepting an inadequate settlement that fails to cover your current and future needs.
Beyond investigating liability, your surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend will work to quantify the full extent of your damages. Surgical errors often result in catastrophic, permanent injuries requiring ongoing medical treatment, rehabilitation, assistive devices, home modifications, and long-term care. Your attorney will consult with medical professionals, life care planners, economists, and vocational experts to document your losses and calculate fair compensation that accounts for both economic damages (medical bills, lost income, reduced earning capacity) and non-economic damages (pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress).
If a fair settlement cannot be reached through negotiation, your medical malpractice attorney will be prepared to take your case to trial. Surgical malpractice litigation is among the most complex forms of personal injury law, requiring the ability to present technical medical information in a way that judges and jurors can understand. An experienced trial lawyer will develop a compelling case presentation, prepare expert witnesses, cross-examine defense witnesses, and argue persuasively on your behalf to maximize your chances of a favorable verdict.
Throughout this challenging process, your attorney provides guidance, support, and honest assessments of your case. Surgical malpractice victims often face not only physical injuries but also emotional trauma, financial stress, and uncertainty about the future. Having a knowledgeable advocate in your corner can provide peace of mind and allow you to focus on your recovery while your lawyer handles the legal complexities of your claim.
Injured By Surgical Errors in Oregon? Call Our surgical malpractice lawyer in Bend or Portland for Help
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured or killed as a result of medical malpractice due to surgical errors by a doctor, hospital or another healthcare provider, contact the Oregon and Bend medical malpractice lawyer at Kuhlman Lawat our number below or fill out the intake form. We offer a free initial case evaluation and handle cases on a contingency fee which means that you pay no money unless we recover.
We handle cases throughout the state including Bend and Portland Oregon, Redmond, Central Oregon, Multnomah County, Deschutes County, Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, Lane County, Medford, Gresham, Albany, Medford, Beaverton, Umatilla, Pendleton, and Hillsboro. We also have an office in Minneapolis, Minnesota and take Nursing Home Abuse cases throughout the Twin Cities, including St. Paul, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Dakota County, Washington County, Anoka County, Scott County, Blaine, Stillwater, and Saint Paul Minnesota.
Please act quickly, there is a limited time (Statute of Limitations) in which you can bring a claim under the law.