Incorrectly performed surgeries, often a result of a lack of checks and balances in hospitals, are not particularly common, but cause long-lasting and devastating damages to patients and their families. Such damages cannot always be covered in full due to tort reform, which caps the amount of financial rewards a patient may receive in a medical malpractice case. Yet recently, a patient in Missouri was not affected by tort reform in her lawsuit for a botched surgery.
In April, a Missouri woman was given a right-sided craniotomy bypass when she was prepped for the procedure on the left side of her head, the correct side. It was not until the surgery was complete that the operating room staff became aware of their negligence. To this day, the Missouri patient requires constant care for basic functions as a result of her botched surgery. While Missouri once upheld a $350,000 non-economic damages cap, a lawsuit filed last year fought against the tort reform and won, as the state Supreme Court declared that it violated the right to trial by jury.
Read more from the original article here.