Michael walked into Northwestern Memorial Hospital for what should have been straightforward knee surgery. The orthopedic surgeon had performed the procedure hundreds of times. Michael trusted the system. He signed the consent forms, followed all pre-operative instructions, and prepared for a few weeks of recovery before returning to his construction job.
He woke up to discover the surgeon had operated on the wrong knee.
The healthy knee now required months of unnecessary recovery. The damaged knee – the one that actually needed surgery – still wasn't fixed. Michael couldn't work. Bills accumulated. His employer's patience wore thin. The hospital offered a settlement that wouldn't even cover his lost wages, let alone the additional surgery he now needed.
This scenario plays out more frequently than most people realize at hospitals throughout Chicago. Surgical errors destroy lives, careers, and financial stability. And hospital systems have one goal when mistakes happen: minimize their liability.
I'm Scott DeSalvo, and I represent surgical error victims in Chicago. For over 25 years, I've fought against hospital systems that put profits ahead of patient safety, and I've held negligent surgeons accountable when their mistakes cause preventable harm.
My commitment to this work stems from personal experience. When I was nine years old, my father suffered a catastrophic workplace injury. His case dragged on for 17 years while insurance companies delayed and denied at every turn. His own attorney eventually sued him for fees. I watched my family struggle financially and emotionally because the system failed us.
That experience shaped everything about how I practice law. I work on contingency – no upfront costs, no fees unless we win. I'm available 24/7 because medical crises don't respect business hours. And I treat every client like family because I understand what it's like to feel powerless against institutions that seem designed to protect themselves rather than help injured people.
If you've been harmed by a surgical error at any Chicago hospital – Rush, University of Chicago Medical Center, Advocate Christ, or any other facility – call me at (312) 500-4500. The consultation is free, and we'll talk about your legal options.
Not every adverse surgical outcome constitutes malpractice. Surgery inherently carries risks, and complications can occur even when surgeons perform flawlessly. The legal distinction matters because it determines whether you have grounds for a claim.
Surgical malpractice occurs when a surgeon, anesthesiologist, surgical nurse, or other operating room personnel breaches the accepted standard of care, and that breach directly causes patient harm. Illinois law establishes this standard based on what reasonably competent medical professionals in the same specialty would do under similar circumstances.
The critical question in every surgical error case is: Would a competent surgeon facing this same situation have made this same mistake? If the answer is no – if the error resulted from negligence, carelessness, or deviation from proper protocols – then you likely have a valid malpractice claim.
Proving surgical malpractice requires expert medical testimony from physicians in the relevant specialty who can explain how the defendant's actions fell below accepted standards. These cases demand substantial medical knowledge, access to qualified experts, and understanding of complex hospital protocols
Surgical mistakes take many forms. I've represented victims of virtually every category of surgical error:
Operating on the incorrect body part represents one of the most egregious surgical errors. These 'never events' should literally never happen because hospitals have mandatory verification protocols specifically designed to prevent them. Yet they continue to occur when surgical teams fail to follow proper procedures.
I've handled cases involving surgery on the wrong knee, wrong shoulder, wrong side of the spine, wrong eye, and wrong organ. These errors often result from communication failures, inadequate pre-operative verification, pressure to move quickly through surgical schedules, and failure to mark surgical sites properly.
Wrong-site surgery victims face double trauma: recovery from unnecessary surgery plus the continuing need for the correct procedure. This means double the recovery time, double the risks, and compounded financial losses.
Even more shocking than wrong-site errors, wrong-patient surgery occurs when a patient receives a procedure intended for someone else. These catastrophic mistakes typically result from patient identification failures, chart mix-ups, similar patient names, or breakdown of verification protocols.
Victims of wrong-patient surgery undergo medically unnecessary procedures with all associated risks while their actual medical conditions remain untreated. Hospital systems that allow these errors demonstrate systemic failures in basic patient safety protocols.
Surgical sponges, instruments, needles, and other items left inside patients after surgery cause serious complications including infections, chronic pain, organ damage, and the need for additional corrective procedures. These errors occur when surgical teams fail to perform proper counts of instruments and materials before closing incisions.
I've represented clients who discovered retained surgical items months or even years after their original procedures. The resulting infections, pain, and need for additional surgery to remove these objects could have been prevented through proper counting protocols that are standard procedure in every operating room.
Surgeons operating near delicate structures must exercise extreme care to avoid damaging surrounding organs, blood vessels, and nerves. Accidental perforation of organs, severing of nerves, or laceration of blood vessels can occur through surgical carelessness, inadequate visualization of the surgical field, inexperience with complex anatomy, or failure to use proper techniques.
These injuries often result in permanent complications. Nerve damage may cause chronic pain or loss of function. Organ perforation can lead to infection, internal bleeding, or organ failure. Vascular injuries may require emergency intervention to prevent life-threatening hemorrhage.
Anesthesiologists bear critical responsibility for patient safety during surgery. Anesthesia errors include administering incorrect dosages, failing to monitor vital signs adequately, neglecting to review patient medical history for contraindications, improper intubation causing airway damage, and delayed response to complications.
Anesthesia mistakes can cause brain damage from oxygen deprivation, stroke, cardiac arrest, and death. These preventable errors often result from communication failures between anesthesia providers and surgical teams, inadequate pre-operative assessment, or failure to recognize and respond to warning signs during procedures.
Surgical care doesn't end when the procedure concludes. Proper post-operative monitoring and intervention are essential to preventing complications. Failures in post-operative care include inadequate monitoring of vital signs, delayed response to signs of internal bleeding, failure to recognize and treat infections promptly, improper wound care, and premature discharge before patients are stable.
I've represented families whose loved ones died from preventable post-operative complications because nursing staff failed to monitor properly or physicians failed to respond to clear warning signs. These deaths are particularly tragic because prompt intervention would have prevented them.
Some surgical errors occur before the procedure even begins – when surgeons recommend operations that aren't medically necessary. This can result from misdiagnosis, failure to exhaust conservative treatment options first, financial incentives to perform procedures, or inadequate informed consent discussions.
Patients who undergo unnecessary surgery suffer all the risks, pain, and expenses of the procedure without any medical benefit. These cases often involve subjective surgical decisions where multiple treatment approaches might be reasonable, making expert testimony particularly important.
Beyond the dramatic mistakes that make headlines, many surgical errors involve technical failures during procedures: improper suturing leading to wound dehiscence or leakage, incorrect placement of surgical hardware like screws or plates, failure to achieve adequate hemostasis resulting in post-operative bleeding, and improper surgical technique causing tissue damage.
These technical errors may stem from surgeon inexperience, fatigue, inadequate training on specific procedures, or simple carelessness. Regardless of cause, surgeons who fail to perform procedures properly must be held accountable when their technical failures harm patients.
Illinois law allows surgical error victims to recover comprehensive compensation for all harm caused by medical negligence:
These cover quantifiable financial losses: all past medical expenses including emergency care, additional surgeries, hospitalizations, and rehabilitation; future medical costs for ongoing treatment, corrective procedures, and lifetime care needs; lost wages from time off work during recovery; lost earning capacity if injuries prevent you from returning to your previous employment or reduce your ability to earn income; and costs for medical equipment, home modifications, and transportation to medical appointments.
Calculating future economic damages requires working with medical experts, life care planners, and economists who can project lifetime costs and lost earnings. These calculations often involve millions of dollars in cases involving permanent disabilities.
These compensate for losses that don't have price tags but profoundly affect quality of life: physical pain and suffering from the error and subsequent treatments, emotional distress including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress, loss of enjoyment of life and inability to participate in activities you previously enjoyed, permanent disability and reduced physical capabilities, disfigurement and scarring, and loss of consortium affecting relationships with spouses and family members.
Presenting non-economic damages effectively to juries requires sophisticated trial skills. I've invested over $100,000 in advanced trial training, including graduating from Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyer's College, specifically to master techniques for conveying the true impact of surgical errors on victims' lives.
In cases involving willful and wanton misconduct – behavior demonstrating conscious disregard for patient safety – Illinois courts may award punitive damages designed to punish wrongdoers and deter similar conduct. Examples might include surgeons operating while impaired, hospitals knowingly employing incompetent surgeons, or systematic failures to follow basic safety protocols.
Unlike some states, Illinois does not cap damages in medical malpractice cases. You can recover full compensation for all losses without arbitrary limitations.
Surgical malpractice cases require more than just showing something went wrong. You must prove four essential elements:
You must establish that the surgeon (or other defendant) agreed to provide care and you accepted that care. This is typically straightforward in surgical cases where formal consent and medical records document the relationship.
This is the heart of every surgical malpractice case. You must prove through expert medical testimony that the surgeon's actions fell below accepted standards. This requires medical experts in the relevant specialty who can explain what should have been done and how the defendant's conduct deviated from proper practice.
I work with highly qualified surgical experts who review operative reports, medical records, and imaging studies to identify breaches of the standard of care. These experts must be willing to testify that the defendant's conduct was negligent – something not all physicians are comfortable doing.
Proving that the surgical error directly caused your injuries requires establishing the causal link between negligent conduct and resulting harm. This can be complex when patients have pre-existing conditions or when multiple factors contributed to bad outcomes.
Expert testimony again becomes crucial in establishing causation. Medical experts must explain not only what the surgeon did wrong but also how that specific error led to the injuries you suffered.
Finally, you must demonstrate actual harm requiring compensation. This includes both economic losses (medical bills, lost wages) and non-economic damages (pain, disability, lost quality of life).
Documenting damages thoroughly from the outset is essential. I work with clients to preserve all medical records, bills, employment records, and evidence of how injuries affect daily life.
Illinois law imposes specific procedural requirements that surgical error plaintiffs must satisfy:
Generally, you have two years from when you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the injury to file a lawsuit. There's also an absolute deadline of four years from the date of the negligent act, with limited exceptions.
These deadlines are strict. Missing them destroys your case permanently, regardless of how clear the negligence or how severe your injuries. Don't delay consultation with an attorney – early investigation often uncovers evidence that disappears over time.
Before filing suit, Illinois requires a sworn statement from a qualified medical expert attesting that they've reviewed your case and believe it has merit. This affidavit must come from a physician in the same specialty as the defendant who can credibly evaluate whether the standard of care was breached.
Obtaining these affidavits requires having medical records reviewed by appropriate experts before filing deadlines expire. This is one reason why early consultation with a surgical error attorney is so important.
You have the legal right to obtain complete copies of your medical records. Do this immediately if you suspect surgical error. Records include operative reports, anesthesia records, nursing notes, pathology reports, imaging studies, and pre-operative and post-operative documentation.
Medical records sometimes get lost, altered, or selectively disclosed. The sooner you obtain complete records, the better protected your case becomes.
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Surgical error cases demand specialized knowledge and resources. Here's what distinguishes my practice:
After 25 years handling medical malpractice cases, I've developed relationships with highly qualified medical experts across surgical specialties. These physicians are willing to review cases honestly and testify when they identify negligence – something many doctors are reluctant to do.
Having the right experts makes or breaks surgical error cases. Defense attorneys know which plaintiff experts are credible and which ones juries won't trust. My experts have unimpeachable credentials and proven track records.
I've spent over $100,000 on specialized trial advocacy training because surgical malpractice cases require sophisticated presentation skills that law school doesn't teach. As a graduate of Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyer's College and KTI's 'The Edge' program, I possess trial techniques that fewer than one in 10,000 lawyers have mastered.
This training matters because insurance companies know which attorneys are actually prepared to try cases. My reputation for thorough preparation often leads to higher settlement offers because defendants understand the risk of taking my cases to verdict.
Surgical error cases require substantial investment. Expert witness fees alone can exceed $50,000. Medical record reviews, depositions, court costs – expenses accumulate quickly.
I advance all case costs. You pay nothing upfront, and I only recover expenses if I win your case. My fee is contingent – a percentage of whatever I recover. If I don't win, you owe me nothing.
This arrangement gives you access to the same quality representation as wealthy defendants without financial risk. It also ensures my interests align perfectly with yours – I only get paid when you do.
I've handled cases against every major hospital system in Chicago: Northwestern Memorial, Rush University Medical Center, University of Chicago Medical Center, Advocate Health, Loyola University Medical Center, and numerous community hospitals throughout the metropolitan area.
These institutions have aggressive legal teams and unlimited resources to defend claims. I'm not intimidated by their tactics. I know their strategies, their expert witnesses, and how to counter their defenses effectively.
If you suspect you've been harmed by surgical error, take these actions immediately:
Seek medical attention for your current condition. Your health is paramount. Consulting another physician can also help document the error and necessary corrective treatment.
Obtain complete copies of all medical records, including operative reports, anesthesia records, nursing notes, imaging studies, and pathology reports. You have a legal right to these records.
Document everything related to your injury. Photograph visible injuries. Keep a journal describing symptoms, pain levels, and how the injury affects daily activities. Preserve all medical bills, prescription receipts, and evidence of lost income.
Do not speak with hospital risk management representatives or insurance adjusters without legal counsel. They're working to protect the hospital, not you. Statements you make can be used against you later.
Contact an experienced surgical error attorney immediately. Early consultation allows preservation of critical evidence and ensures deadlines are met.
No. Consent forms acknowledge that you understand surgical risks, but they don't give surgeons permission to be negligent. If a surgeon's carelessness caused preventable harm, you have legal rights regardless of what forms you signed.
Illinois law prevents apologies from being used as admissions of liability. An apology doesn't waive your rights or prevent you from pursuing compensation. In fact, apologies often indicate the surgeon recognizes they made a mistake.
Case value depends on injury severity, long-term prognosis, lost income, strength of liability evidence, and available insurance coverage. Surgical error cases often result in settlements or verdicts ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars depending on circumstances.
Most surgical malpractice cases settle before trial, but being prepared to try cases is essential to obtaining fair settlements. Insurance companies make better offers when they know your attorney is willing and able to take cases to verdict.
Surgical error cases typically take 12 to 36 months or longer depending on complexity. The goal isn't settling quickly – it's settling at the right time for maximum compensation after fully understanding your long-term medical needs.
Every day you delay consultation, evidence disappears and memories fade. Hospital systems begin building their defenses immediately after adverse events. You need someone protecting your interests just as aggressively.
Call me at (312) 500-4500 right now. I'm available 24/7 – day or night, weekends, holidays. The consultation is free, and you'll speak directly with me, not a paralegal or intake coordinator.
We'll discuss what happened, review your medical records if available, and I'll give you my honest assessment of whether you have a viable case. If you don't have a case, I'll tell you that. If you do, I'll explain your options and what we can do to help.
I serve clients throughout Chicago and surrounding areas including all city neighborhoods and suburbs in Cook County, DuPage County, Will County, Lake County, and Kane County. If your injury makes travel difficult, I'll come to you – at your home, the hospital, or a rehabilitation facility.
Remember: No upfront costs. No fees unless we win. Available 24/7/365.
Don't let hospital systems minimize your claim or pressure you into inadequate settlements. Call (312) 500-4500 now. Let's start fighting for the justice and compensation you deserve.
Scott DeSalvo founded DeSalvo Law to help injured people throughout Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1998, IARDC #6244452, Scott has represented over 3,000 clients in personal injury, workers compensation, and accident cases.
No Fee Unless You Win | Free Consultation | 24/7 Availability Call or Text: (312) 500-4500
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