How Do Medical Malpractice Cases Most commonly Occur In The Post-operative Setting?

I was recently involved in a discussion on LinkedIn addressing the topic of medical malpractice cases arising in the postoperative setting. The original post by Saira Pasha encouraged opinions on the topic of reducing the risk of serious post-op infections. 

In my experience of over 30 years arguing medical malpractice cases, I’ve noticed that when malpractice cases occur in the postoperative setting, they occur for two reasons:

1.  The nursing staff fails to recognize and advise a doctor of developing postoperative complications.
2. The doctor is made aware of the development of complications but is reluctant to acknowledge that a problem occurred and doesn’t go back to see the patient and address the problem.

Under either scenario, a delay occurs, the patient suffers which often results in death or serious injury. Everyone makes mistakes in their professions, but acknowledging them and correcting them as soon as possible, can avoid serious complications, injury, and loss of life.