Pennsylvania Surgical Fire Lawyers
A lot of us may not have heard of surgical fires or know what they are, but the frightening reality is that fires do occur during surgery and cause severe injuries or even death to patients who are in surgery.
According to the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit, ECRI, which works to spread awareness about surgical fires, almost all operating room fires ignite on or in the patient. These fires typically result in little damage to equipment, but considerable injury to patients and most of the time, are a complete surprise to the medical staff involved.
Operating room fires have received far less attention than other potential hazards, but Pennsylvania surgical fires have seriously injured and even killed patients. New data shows that they are more common than previously believed. Pennsylvania, which collects the most comprehensive statistics about surgical fires, has reportedly had 28 operating room fires a year for the last three years – that accounts for one in about every 87,000 surgeries. Pennsylvania’s data also suggests that nationally there may be hundreds of such fires out of roughly 50 million inpatient and outpatient surgeries annually – a lot more than the 50 to 100 previously estimated by patient safety groups.
Fires in operating rooms occur because of the use of flammable gases such as oxygen during surgery. The use of 100 percent oxygen in surgery has significantly increased the risk of the oxygen leaking into the air and increasing the combustibility of gauze and hair, alcohol-based skin cleansers, surgical tools and other items that are commonly used in the operating room. About 44 percent of surgical fires occur during head, face, neck or chest surgery when electrical surgical tools are close to the oxygen and the patient is breathing. As with other types of surgical errors, poor communication between surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists commonly causes surgical fires.
These operating room fires can not only lead to disfigurement, serious burn injuries or death, they could also cause severe emotional trauma to the patient. Surgical fires can be prevented when surgeons communicate well among themselves and with their staff and when they have a clear plan for executing the surgery.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured or killed a result of surgical fires caused by negligence, then you may be entitled to significant compensation by filing a medical malpractice claim. Please contact an experienced and knowledgeable Philadelphia surgical malpractice attorney at Anapol Schwartz for a free consultation and evaluation of your claim. Victims of surgical fires may be entitled to compensation to cover medical expenses, pain and suffering and loss of wages.
Call us today, toll free (866) 735-2792, to schedule a free consultation.