Can I file a malpractice suit involving elective surgery?

It is entirely possible to file a malpractice lawsuit concerning elective surgery if you meet the legal requirements for malpractice. While elective surgery may be a choice, you still have the right to have that surgery performed with a reasonable standard of care. Further, just because you choose to have the surgery, this doesn't mean you are accepting the risk that a doctor will be negligent.

If you choose to have elective surgery and something goes wrong, your ability to file a malpractice claim and win will depend on:

• Whether the doctor's actions were classified as negligent under the law
• Whether the negligence is found to be the direct cause of some compensable injury. 

To determine negligence, the behavior of the surgeon is compared to what a reasonable surgeon in his position would have done. For example, if you have plastic surgery and the doctor makes an error in your tummy tuck, to determine if he was negligent, the jury or judge will look at whether a reasonable plastic surgeon would have made that error in performing the tummy tuck. If no reasonable doctor in the same field would have behaved so carelessly, then the doctor is viewed as having breached his duty and as being negligent. 

Once negligence is proven, the court will look at whether the result was altered because of the negligence. If the doctor was negligent but nothing much happened as a result and the surgery turned out fine, then you don't have a case since there is no compensable injury. If the surgery didn't turn out Ok, though, then you will be compensated for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering and emotional distress that were directly caused by injuries resulting from the doctor's negligence. 

To get help determining if you have a case, schedule a consultation with a personal injury or malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.