Would I need a lawyer if I was awake during a endoscopy and felt everything?
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Would I need a lawyer if I was awake during a endoscopy and felt everything?
Earlier today I had a endoscopy; it was first time having a surgery performed. When they rolled me back and gave me anesthesia, I started feeling it but I wasn’t fully asleep when the doctor started the procedure. I felt the whole process from start to finish and I was gagging the whole time. I informed the head director about the situation and was informed they will look into it and give my wife and I a call back but I wantedto know if I need a lawyer for a situation like this.
Asked on December 19, 2018 under Malpractice Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
There's no point in suing: you'd spend far more on the case than you get back. In a malpractice suit, you can only recover for: 1) additional medical costs caused by the malpractice; 2) lost wages due to the malpractice; 3) "pain and suffering" for serious life impairment (disability; disfigurement; etc.) which, as a practical matter, last many weeks or several months or more, in order to get an appreciable compensation. Feeling an endoscopy procedure, while undoubtedly unpleasant, simply would not result in an getting any appreciable amount of money--but to bring the case, even without a lawyer, you must (under the rules of evidence, to prove malpractice cases) hire a doctor to write a report and testify, and that would cost more than you get back even if you won.
I sympathize; due to inadequate anaesthesia, I felt tendon surgery once--it was very unpleasant and moderately painful (the anaesthesia dulled, but did not block, the pain, and I was not fully sedated). But even as an attorney who could easily represent himself, it was not worth suing over this.
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