A relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Bobby Jenks, recently suggested that a surgical error caused him to need an emergency surgery on his spine. The baseball player, 30, went to Massachusetts General Hospital in December for a spinal decompression surgery that should have removed two of the four bone spurs on his spine. After the surgery, Jenks experienced excruciating pain and severe headaches, and his incision was constantly leaking.

About 18 days after the procedure, the pitcher, who was in Arizona, went to the hospital to have his incision examined. Doctors found that surgery had begun on Jenks's third bone spur, but was not completed. An emergency surgery was required to stop the leaking spinal fluid, which had built up at the bottom of the pitcher's incision and caused an infection. Jenks believes that if he had waited longer the incision's infection could have infected the spinal fluid and led to potentially fatal complications. 

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a surgical error, contact the Chicago surgical error lawyers of Friedman & Bonebrake, P.C. at 312-466-8200 to learn more about your rights. 

A recent study of trends in medical malpractice claims in the U.S. says that the number of surgical error claims are decreasing, but the payment amount on these malpractice claims are increasing.

Using data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, the American College of Surgeons 97th Annual Clinical Congress analyzed the current state of medical malpractice and patient claims in surgical fields.  The researchers analyzed 58,518 claims filed between 1990 to 2006 against surgeons and surgical residents.

Over the years, the researchers noticed that claims decreased by 154 claims a year.  At the same time, payments on claims increased by $3,200 a year.  Illinois, Delware, Connecticut, and Wisconsin were the states with the highest pay-outs on surgical error claims.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a surgical error, contact the Chicago surgical error lawyers of Friedman & Bonebrake, P.C. at 312-466-8200 to learn more about how we can help you. 

In a study analyzing surgical errors committed by doctors after a late night of drinking, researchers found that surgeons committed about 50 percent more errors when hungover.  "Historically, the medical profession has had a reputation for high rates of alcohol consumption.  It is likely that surgeons are unaware that next-day surgical performance may be compromised as a result of significant alcohol intake," said one researcher involved in the study published in Arhcives of Surgery.

16 students and 8 surgeons were asked to go out for a night of dining and drinking.  8 of the students were invited to the dinner and to stay out, but were instructed not to drink any alcohol.  The rest of the participants were all told they could drink as much as they wanted up to the point of being drunk.  The next morning, they were asked to perform a surgical procedure using a virtual reality system.  The surgeons' errors increased by half the amount that they committed when tested a day earlier.  Only one of the surgeons had a detectable level of alcohol in their system.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a surgical error, contact the Chicago surgical error attorneys of Friedman & Bonebrake, P.C. at 312-466-8200 and set up an appointment to discuss your situation with one of our lawyers.