Compensation for Nerve Damage Under Medical Malpractice

When doctors are negligent, patients can suffer a wide range of injuries, including nerve damage. Your nerves process information from your brain and the external world, allowing both involuntary and voluntary functioning, sensation, and movement. When important nerves sustain damage, it can have catastrophic results for patients.

If you suffered nerve damage and believe it might have been the result of a serious medical error, you should discuss your legal options with an Ohio medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.

How Nerve Damage Can Impact Your Life

Some nerve damage will forever alter your life, and it can result in many different effects, depending on which nerve was damaged. If your nerve is severed, the effects can be permanent and irreversible. Some serious effects of nerve damage include:

• Chronic pain
• Complete loss of sensation
• Complete loss of motor function
• Paralysis (loss of sensation and motor function)
• Seizures
• Deformity
• Incontinence
• Loss of your voice
• Loss of a gag reflex
• Inability to swallow properly
• Gastroparesis
• Heart problems
• Abdominal pain

All of these can affect you every single day of your life. If your nerve damage was the result of medical malpractice, the medical professional should be held fully liable for all of your losses. These can include additional medical treatment costs, lost earnings, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, permanent impairments, and pain and suffering.

Do You Have a Nerve Damage Claim?

In order for a medical professional to be held liable for your nerve damage and resulting effects on your life, you must prove that the damage resulted from medical malpractice. Malpractice occurs when a medical professional’s conduct breaches the medical standard of care in that situation.

Some examples of medical negligence that can cause severe nerve injuries include:

• Failure to diagnose a degenerative condition
• Misuse of tourniquets during surgery
• Misuse of surgical retractors or other devices
• Errors in intubation
• Birth injuries and misuse of devices used to assist in delivery
• Misuse of surgical tools
• Severing a nerve during surgery
• Lacerating an artery during surgery
• Anesthesia errors

Many instances of nerve damage happen during the surgical process. Surgical nerve damage can be indirect, such as when blood loss during surgery deprives a nerve of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to function. Nerve damage can also be the result of direct surgical trauma to a nerve, such as when retractors pull on nerve or when a surgeon fails to properly identify and protect a key nerve during surgery and as a result either compresses or cuts the nerve.

The Eisen Law Firm has handled many nerve damage cases. In one recent case, The Eisen Law Firm represented a patient that suffered permanent nerve damage during a surgery to remove a small piece of his adrenal gland. In another recent case, The Eisen Law Firm represented a woman who had permanent nerve damage to her facial nerve. In that case, the surgeon thought he was carefully monitoring the patient’s facial muscles and that he would be alerted by the monitor if he was operating too close to the nerve. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the surgeon, the anesthesiologist gave the patient a medication that paralyzed the patient’s facial nerves and rendered the monitor non-functional. The surgeon cut right through the facial nerve without any warning or knowledge that he had done so, resulting in permanent injury and disfigurement.

Let Our Ohio Medical Malpractice Team Help You With Your Medical Error Case

Nerve injuries often happen due to the negligence of medical professionals, and patients may suffer with those injuries for a lifetime. At The Eisen Law Firm, we advocate for patient safety and fight for the rights of those with preventable medical injuries, including nerve damage cases.

Like all medical malpractice cases, knowing how much to ask for is tricky in nerve damage cases. However, we will put together a team of experts to assist us in determining both the economic and non-economic damages to maximize your recovery. We have been handling medical malpractice cases exclusively for over 25 years and have a very successful track record. Call 216-687-0900 or contact us online for a free case evaluation, so we can advise you of your rights.