Infections After Surgery: When Is It Medical Negligence?

Undergoing surgery is a major life event that requires an immense amount of trust. You trust the surgeon’s hands, the hospital’s cleanliness, and the nursing staff’s vigilance. When that trust is broken by a life-threatening infection, the consequences are devastating.

At Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., we have represented injury victims across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York since 1975. Our firm features a unique Medical-Legal team, including an on-staff medical doctor and a registered nurse. This allows us to determine exactly when a postoperative infection shifts from an inherent risk to actionable medical negligence.

Why Do Infections Occur After a Surgical Procedure?

A Surgical Site Infection (SSI) occurs when pathogens, typically bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, enter the body through the surgical incision. While the human body is resilient, the sterile environment of an operating room is the only thing standing between a successful recovery and a systemic crisis.

What are the primary types of surgical infections?

• Superficial Incisional SSI: This occurs only in the area of the skin where the incision was made.
• Deep Incisional SSI: This happens beneath the incision area, affecting the muscle and the tissues surrounding the muscle.
• Organ or Space SSI: This is the most dangerous type, occurring in any part of the body opened or manipulated during surgery, such as the liver, heart, or joints.

What are the Statistics on Surgical Infections and Errors?

The data regarding healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) paints a sobering picture of the state of patient safety in the U.S. hospital system:

• The Scale of the Problem: According to the CDC, approximately 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection on any given day.
• Mortality Rates: Research indicates that surgical site infections are responsible for nearly 8,000 deaths annually in the United States.
• The Financial Burden: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are among the most expensive healthcare-associated infections. According to a comprehensive review hosted by the NIH, the annual economic burden of SSIs in the U.S. is estimated at approximately $3.3 billion.
• Impact on Recovery: Patients with an SSI are 60% more likely to spend time in the ICU and are five times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of their procedure.
• Preventability: Research consistently shows that up to 55% of SSIs are preventable through strict adherence to evidence-based protocols, such as timely antibiotic administration and sterile field maintenance.
• Botched Procedures: When an infection stems from a botched surgery, the likelihood of permanent disability or the need for multiple corrective surgeries increases significantly.

How Do You Distinguish Between a Known Risk and Negligence?

Every surgical consent form mentions infection as a risk. However, a signed form is not a get out of jail free card for a negligent hospital.

Why is the Standard of Care the deciding factor?

In legal terms, medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider deviates from the Professional Standard of Care. This is defined as the type of care that a similarly trained, reasonable healthcare professional would have provided under the same circumstances.

If a hospital fails to maintain a sterile field, or if a surgeon uses unsterile tools, they have breached this standard. Because we have a doctor and nurse on staff, we can analyze surgical logs to see if these standards were ignored.

7 Signs That Your Post-Op Infection Was Caused by Negligence

When reviewing potential claims, our team looks for these specific red flags that indicate a breakdown in hospital protocol:

1. Improper Sterilization of Instruments: If an autoclave sterilization machine was malfunctioning or the staff bypassed cleaning steps, bacteria is introduced directly into your body.
2. Failure to Administer Pre-Surgical Antibiotics: National standards require prophylactic antibiotics to be administered within 60 minutes prior to the first incision for most surgeries.
3. Contaminated Operating Room Air: Hospitals must maintain positive pressure and HEPA filtration in ORs. Failure to maintain these systems can lead to airborne contaminants.
4. Staff Hygiene Failures: This includes improper scrubbing in, wearing street clothes in sterile areas, or failing to change gloves between tasks.
5. Retained Foreign Objects: Leaving a sponge or tool inside a patient, a classic example of a Never Event, almost always results in a catastrophic infection.
6. Unsafe Injection Practices: Using single-dose vials on multiple patients or using contaminated syringes.
7. Inadequate Post-Operative Monitoring: If a patient shows signs of sepsis like high fever, chills, or low blood pressure and the staff fails to react, this is a failure to diagnose that constitutes malpractice.

How Does a Malpractice Claim for Infection Work?

Unlike a standard personal injury claim, medical cases require a specialized process involving technical evidence.

What is a Certificate of Merit?

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, you cannot move forward with a lawsuit without a Certificate of Merit. This is a statement from a qualified professional confirming that your claim has a reasonable probability of success. Our on-staff medical team allows us to expedite this review process significantly.

Proving Causation

The hospital’s defense team will often argue that your infection was caused by your own health, such as smoking, diabetes, or obesity. We use medical science to prove that the infection was actually introduced by the hospital’s failure to follow sterile protocols.

The Medical-Legal Advantage at Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C.

Proving a hospital infection case is an uphill battle. You are fighting massive insurance companies and hospital boards that will protect their reputation at all costs. You need a team that speaks their language.

• Clinical Knowledge: Our on-staff doctor and nurse can identify gaps in your medical records that a traditional lawyer might miss.
• Resource Heavy: We invest the necessary capital to hire top-tier qualified professionals to testify on your behalf.
• Trial-Ready Litigators: We are not a settlement mill. We prepare every case for the courtroom, ensuring that the defense takes your claim seriously.
• No Fee Unless We Win: We handle all medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis. We pay the upfront costs of the investigation, and you only pay us if we recover money for you.

Secure the Compensation You Need for Recovery

If a botched surgery or a contaminated operating room has left you fighting for your life against a severe infection, you deserve more than just an apology. You deserve the resources to pay for your recovery and the peace of mind that comes with justice.

Contact Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. today for a free, confidential consultation. Our team is ready to review your medical records and help you hold the negligent parties accountable.

Call us now or fill out our online contact form to speak with our medical-legal team.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Can I Sue if I Signed a Consent Form?

Yes. A consent form acknowledges that complications can happen; it does not give the doctor permission to be negligent. You cannot consent to unsterile tools or surgical errors.

2. What is the Most Common Infection After Surgery?

Staphylococcus aureus (Staph) and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) are the most frequent culprits. These are particularly dangerous because they are resistant to many common antibiotics.

3. How Long Do I Have to File a Lawsuit?

In most cases in PA and NJ, the Statute of Limitations is two years from the date you discovered the injury. However, because these cases require extensive medical record reviews, you should contact a lawyer as soon as you suspect something is wrong.

4. What if the Infection Was Found After I Went Home?

Many infections do not manifest until 3 to 30 days after surgery. The hospital is still responsible if the seeds of that infection were planted during the procedure or if they failed to provide proper discharge instructions.