Post-Operative Respiratory Failure

Surgery comes with significant risks. Doctors are supposed to obtain your informed consent before a procedure. Moreover, even after a procedure, various events can delay or prevent your appropriate recovery. One substantial complication is post-operative respiratory failure. This complication can stop or delay your recovery. If you suspect you or a loved one suffered post-operative respiratory failure because a doctor didn’t abide by the appropriate standard of care, you can consult the skillful Syracuse medical malpractice attorneys of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano.

Post-operative respiratory failure occurs when the lungs cannot properly regulate oxygen and carbon dioxide flow into and out of the blood. The lungs are either unable to take in oxygen to get it into the blood or they cannot eliminate carbon dioxide from the blood. When a human is faced with too little or too much carbon dioxide he or she may suffer. Post-operative respiratory failure may also be used to describe pulmonary emboli, pneumonia, aspiration, and adult respiratory distress syndrome.

Anybody who goes through surgery is at some degree of risk for post-operative respiratory failure. However, a patient’s weight, medical history, prior lung disease, obesity, history of smoking, adverse reaction to anesthesia, and preexisting conditions may increase his or her chances of suffering from post-operative respiratory failure.

The kind of surgery that’s performed can also increase a patient’s odds of developing this complication. Often thoracic procedures, coronary artery bypass grafting, and surgical procedures on the neck or head increase the odds of a patient developing respiratory failure after a surgery. Doctors should take these factors into account.

Doctors, nurses, and staff should be able to identify when respiratory failure is occurring. When a health care provider fails to diagnose respiratory failure in an appropriate fashion, there can be tremendous consequences, including injuries or death to the patient. In order to hold health care providers accountable, you will need to establish the elements of medical malpractice by a preponderance of the evidence, or show that they were more likely than not present in your case. That is, you’ll need to show: (1) you were owed a professional duty of care by the defendant health care provider, (2) breach of the professional standard of care, (3) causation, and (4) damages. A professional standard of care usually takes into account someone’s medical history, age, and other factors that may have increased the risk of post-operative respiratory failure.

Medical malpractice lawsuits can turn into battles between experts. Even before filing your case, you and your attorney will need to consult with an expert to determine whether you have a prima facie case of medical malpractice in connection with post-operative respiratory failure.

In New York, Rule 3012-a of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules requires you to certify that you reviewed the case and consulted with at least one health care expert licensed to practice, and that you reasonably believe the expert is knowledgeable regarding post-operative respiratory failure and other issues relevant to your claim. You must also certify that based on the review and consultation with an expert, you’ve concluded that there is a reasonable basis for the lawsuit. You will only need to file one certificate even if multiple hospital staff or health care providers were at fault for the harm you suffered.

In some cases, it may be necessary to retain other experts to provide opinions about future damages or losses that are more difficult to ascertain.

Whether you’ve been injured or a loved one has been killed due to post-operative respiratory failure caused by medical malpractice in Syracuse, you can talk to a lawyer regarding your legal options. Medical malpractice claims are notoriously difficult to establish, and require experienced counsel who understand the requirements imposed by these claims. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano represents patients harmed by medical malpractice in Syracuse, Rochester, and throughout Upstate New York, including in Canandaigua, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Auburn, Binghamton, Lyons, Elmira, Wampsville, Herkimer, Utica, Oneida, Lowville, Oswego, and Watertown. Call our firm at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.