Queens Surgeon Malpractice Lawyer

Over 20 Years Handling Surgical Malpractice Cases in Queens. Personally.

Surgeons and their teams are human. They make mistakes, and in the operating room those mistakes can be catastrophic. Some surgical errors cause permanent injury. Some cause wrongful death.

If you or someone you love was harmed before, during, or after surgery, Queens surgeon malpractice attorney David Kates can help. With over 20 years of medical malpractice experience in Queens County, I personally handle every case from start to finish. I don’t hand clients off to junior staff or cycle them through a large team. I have recovered millions of dollars for clients injured by negligent surgical care, and I can evaluate your situation at no cost.

For a free review of your case, call (718) 866-3664. I can answer your questions and help you understand your options.

How Common Are Surgical Errors?

More common than most patients realize. At least 4,000 surgical errors occur in the United States every year. An analysis of surgical “never event” data from 1990 to 2010 found that these critical errors happened multiple times every week:

• Leaving a foreign object inside a patient’s body: approximately 39 times per week
• Operating on the wrong body part: approximately 20 times per week
• Performing the wrong procedure: approximately 20 times per week

Roughly $1.3 billion in surgical malpractice payments were made to victims during that same period. The actual numbers are likely higher, since many incidents go unreported.

Common Types of Surgical Errors

Surgical errors involve different roles on the care team, including the surgeon, scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, and staff responsible for pre- and post-operative care. Although every surgery carries inherent risks, surgical errors go beyond those known risks. They happen because someone failed to meet the standard of care.

Examples of surgical mistakes include:

• Leaving an instrument or sponge inside a patient
• Operating on the wrong side of the body
• Operating on the wrong body part
• Performing the wrong procedure
• Performing or recommending unnecessary surgery
• Cutting a nerve or perforating an organ
• Incorrect incisions
• Anesthesia dosage errors
• Failure to monitor a patient under anesthesia
• Failure to obtain informed consent before a procedure
• Negligent post-operative care leading to infection

Wrong-site surgery, wrong medical procedure, and wrong-patient surgery are called never events because hospitals have established safety protocols specifically designed to prevent them. As a wrong surgery site attorney in Queens County, I can tell you these errors carry particular legal weight: the hospital’s own pre-surgical checklists often serve as direct evidence of the breach. Informed consent failures can also support a malpractice claim even when the surgery itself was technically performed without error, if the patient would have refused the procedure had they known the actual risks.

Steps to Take After a Suspected Surgical Error

Seek a thorough medical evaluation immediately to address any ongoing health concerns and create a documented record. Request your complete medical records, including operative notes and anesthesia records. Do not sign any release or settlement documents from the hospital or its insurer before consulting independent legal counsel. Statements made informally to hospital staff or posted on social media can be used by defense attorneys to undermine your claim.

Contact an experienced Queens County surgical error attorney as soon as possible. Early legal engagement can protect evidence, preserve deadlines, and put you in a stronger position before the hospital’s legal team has time to act. I’m available for a free, confidential consultation to walk through what happened and what your options are. Reach out through the medical malpractice page or call directly.

Common Causes of Surgical Errors

No two surgeries are alike, and every operation carries its own risks. Surgeons and the care teams around them are obligated to anticipate those risks and take reasonable steps to protect the patient.

Surgical errors can result from:

• Incompetence or lack of skill: Surgeons without sufficient experience in a specific procedure may lack the proficiency to perform it safely.
• Poor preoperative planning: Thorough preparation requires reviewing the patient’s medical history, confirming equipment availability, and anticipating likely complications. Skipping any of these steps creates avoidable risk.
• Taking shortcuts during surgery: When surgeons skip steps they consider unnecessary to save time, the consequences can be serious.
• Poor communication: Miscommunication between surgeons, nurses, and other team members can lead to errors about which procedure is being performed, which body part to operate on, or proper dosage amounts.
• Operating while fatigued: Surgical shifts can exceed 24 hours. Fatigue is a recognized contributing factor to surgical errors, and a tired surgeon is a dangerous one.
• Operating under the influence of drugs or alcohol: Some surgeons turn to substances to manage the demands of high-pressure work. This creates a direct risk of critical errors.
• Using defective surgical equipment: Defective implants, surgical robots, pacemakers, and prosthetics can cause complications during and after surgery.
• Failing to follow sterilization protocols: Instruments including scalpels, forceps, clamps, and endoscopes must be properly cleaned and sterilized before each procedure to prevent life-threatening infection.

Proving Surgical Malpractice in New York

Under New York law, proving surgical malpractice requires showing two things: that the provider departed from the accepted standard of care for a similarly trained professional under similar circumstances, and that the departure directly caused the injury. Both elements must be established through qualified expert testimony in the relevant surgical specialty. It isn’t enough to show that something went wrong. You have to show why it was the surgical team’s fault.

Defense teams routinely argue that the patient’s underlying condition, not the surgeon’s conduct, caused the adverse outcome, or that what happened was a recognized complication rather than a preventable error. To prove surgical malpractice, key evidence includes operative notes, anesthesia records, pre-surgical checklists, and nursing notes. Every document matters.

As a Queens surgeon malpractice attorney with over 20 years of experience in these cases, I work with trusted medical experts and witnesses to build cases that hold up against those defenses. My focus is on pursuing the compensation my clients may be entitled to, not just getting to a quick settlement.

The Impact of Surgical Errors on Patients & Families

The consequences of a surgical error can follow a patient for years, sometimes for life. Physical injuries, financial strain, and psychological damage compound quickly, and the burden falls on people who were already vulnerable when they walked into the operating room.

Potential consequences of a surgical error include:

• Chronic pain and discomfort
• Permanent disability, impairment, or disfigurement
• Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
• Loss of quality of life
• Additional medical expenses for corrective procedures or treatments
• Emotional trauma and distress

Beyond physical harm, surgical errors frequently cause lasting psychological effects including anxiety, depression, and PTSD-like symptoms. Victims often face significant lifestyle changes and financial adjustments that affect their families as much as themselves. In the most serious cases, a surgical error results in wrongful death.

Surgical Errors at Queens Hospitals: What Local Patients Should Know

Queens is served by major surgical facilities including NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, Mount Sinai Queens, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. These hospitals handle significant patient volumes, and that pressure creates real risk. Staff miscommunication, rushed procedures, and inadequate post-operative care are recurring problems in high-volume environments.

The New York State Department of Health oversees physician conduct and discipline for providers practicing throughout Queens. But regulatory oversight doesn’t compensate injured patients. That’s where I come in.

I’m a lifelong New Yorker with a Queens-based practice. I know these hospitals, I know the local medical landscape, and I understand the specific challenges Queens residents face when trying to hold a large institution accountable. Whether your case involves a community hospital or a major academic medical center, I can help you pursue compensation through the legal process.

Navigating the Queens County Legal System for Surgical Malpractice

Surgical malpractice cases in Queens County are filed in Queens County Supreme Court in Jamaica. Cases move through preliminary conferences, document discovery, expert depositions, and often mediation before trial. Contested cases can take two to four years or longer to resolve. I handle every step of that process personally, from compiling the initial documentation to presenting arguments in court.

Liability in a surgical error case can reach beyond the individual surgeon. Hospitals may be vicariously liable for employed staff including nurses, anesthesiologists, and surgical technicians. If defective equipment contributed, device manufacturers may also bear responsibility. For clients pursuing a wrong medical procedure claim or a wrong surgery site claim in Queens County, identifying every liable party can strengthen the case and affect the compensation sought. A wrong medical procedure lawyer who understands how institutional liability works in New York can make a substantial difference in how a claim is developed.

Claims against municipal facilities such as NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst require a Notice of Claim filed within 90 days of the malpractice. That deadline is far shorter than the general two-and-a-half-year statute of limitations that applies to most surgical malpractice cases. Hospitals and their insurers move quickly after a surgical error to protect their own interests. Early legal engagement can help protect yours. If you believe you have a wrong surgery site or wrong medical procedure claim in Queens County, don’t wait.

Ready to find out how I can help you? Call (718) 866-3664 or contact me online!