Utah Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

When you have surgery, you expect to need time to recover from the incision and general purpose of the procedure. But you don't think about the potential of also having to recover from a serious surgical site infection.

Yet surgical site infections are far too common and can be dangerous or even fatal.

Why do surgical site infections happen? They happen because of some of the same reasons that all surgical errors occur, such as:

• Surgeon, nurse or other medical staff fatigue
• Unacceptable surgical environment or equipment
• Lack of following appropriate protocol by surgical team
• Distracted surgeon or other staff
• Inexperienced staff or lack of training

What can a patient do to prevent a surgical site infection? Patients should work with their doctors to maintain controlled blood sugar levels before surgery, especially if diabetes is a factor. Taking a shower the day before or day of surgery is also recommended.

If you or someone you love has suffered a surgical site infection due to medical malpractice, you may need financial compensation to help cover the costs of medical care, loss of income and more. To find out if you have a case, please contact the Utah medical malpractice and surgical site infection attorneys at G. Eric Nielson & Associates, LLC: 866-605-4556.