Surgical Error vs Complication in Atlanta Hospitals: When Is It Medical Malpractice? (2026)

By Audrey M. Tolson

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Medical Malpractice

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Last Modified on Jan 29, 2026

The effects of surgical errors can be devastating, but not all complications arise from mistakes made by doctors. Surgeries carry inherent risks, which is why it’s important to know the difference between a surgical error vs complication in Atlanta hospitals.

An Atlanta medical malpractice attorney can help you recover compensation if your complications were truly due to a surgical error. These professionals understand surgical error laws and how to use them to help their clients recover damages. An attorney can help you determine if your surgical complication occurred due to a medical practitioner’s failure to meet the accepted standard of care.

Surgical Errors vs. Unavoidable Complications

Surgical error cases are built on the principle of negligence. They seek to prove that your surgeon or another healthcare professional responsible for your care did not uphold their duty to you as a patient to provide an acceptable standard of care, and that their failings led to your injuries or complications.

Some complications are unavoidable. Widely recognized potential risks of surgery can include:

• Blood clots
• Adverse anesthesia reactions
• Scarring or adhesions
• Excessive bleeding

These complications do not necessarily indicate that a surgical error occurred. They can be inevitable consequences of underlying health conditions or other factors.

Surgical Errors That Constitute Medical Malpractice

Some surgical errors, on the other hand, very clearly justify filing a medical malpractice claim. They occur due to a healthcare provider’s negligence and can include:

• Incorrect surgical sites. Sometimes, surgeons operate on the wrong side of the body or even perform the wrong procedure altogether. These issues are known as “never events.” Despite the name, wrong-site surgeries were up 26% in 2023 from the year before.
• Foreign objects left behind. Surgeons sometimes leave instruments, clamps, or sponges inside patients after finishing the surgery, leading to severe infections, pain, and additional surgery to remove the objects. Also called a never event, unintended retention was up 11% in 2023 from the year before.
• Anesthesia errors. Administering too little anesthesia can lead to anesthesia awareness, an event that occurs in one to two out of every 1,000 patients. Administering too much anesthesia can lead to brain damage or even death.
• Nerve damage. Careless operations can lead to severed nerves, which can affect the patient’s quality of life due to numbness, chronic pain, or loss of function.
• Infections due to improper sterilization. Hospitals and specialized surgical facilities are supposed to maintain strict sterilization protocols. When those protocols break down, it can lead to serious infections in patients that can significantly complicate their recoveries. Surgical site infections develop in 1-3% of patients.

If you have suffered complications due to one of these medical errors, it’s cause for contacting a medical malpractice lawyer and filing a claim.

What to Do if You Suspect Complications or a Surgical Error

Whether your complications were caused by medical negligence or unavoidable issues, you need to seek immediate medical attention if you suspect any kind of problem following your surgery. You may want to visit a different qualified medical professional to address complications.

You should also request and preserve copies of your medical records from the surgery, including documentation of anything that happened before or after the procedure. Keeping a journal that details the symptoms of your injury and how they affect your daily life can also be helpful if you plan to file a medical malpractice claim.

Atlanta Hospitals Where Surgical Errors May Occur

The Atlanta area is home to many reputable hospitals, but surgical errors can occur at any facility. Some local hospitals include:

• Northside Atlanta Hospital
• Emory University Hospital
• Grady Memorial Hospital
• Piedmont Atlanta

Remember that you are entitled to seek a second opinion at another facility if you require treatment for complications from your surgery.

FAQs

How Much Compensation Can You Get for a Surgical Error?

How much compensation you can get for a surgical error depends on the specifics of your case. If the error was egregious and liability is clear, you can receive more than you would for a minor injury surrounded by questions of liability. The experience level of your Atlanta surgical error attorney in negotiating with insurance companies can also have an impact on your settlement amount.

What Is the Difference Between a Medical Error and Medical Malpractice?

The difference between a medical error and medical malpractice is that while a medical error can be any kind of mistake in care, including those that do not have any dire consequences, medical malpractice occurs when errors cause serious injury due to a practitioner’s negligence. Medical malpractice always involves errors, but not all medical errors constitute malpractice.

Can You File a Claim for Complications From Surgery?

You can file a claim for complications from surgery if those complications arose as a result of the surgeon’s or another medical professional’s negligence. Some surgical complications are unavoidable. You only have a valid claim if you can prove that your healthcare team’s failure to meet reasonable standards of care caused your complication.

What Are the Four Things That Must Be Proven to Win a Medical Malpractice Case?

The four things that must be proven to win a medical malpractice case are duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. Your medical malpractice lawyer will need to show that your practitioner had a duty to provide a certain standard of care, that they did not live up to that standard, and that it directly caused you actual harm, resulting in damages that require compensation.

Hire a Surgical Error Lawyer

Understanding the difference between a surgical error vs complication in Atlanta hospitals can help you determine if it is time to hire a surgical error lawyer to help with your case. You can trust the award-winning legal team at The Tolson Firm, LLC, to provide skilled legal guidance and representation. Audrey Tolson, the lead attorney, is a proud Black attorney who, like the rest of her team, cares deeply about the women and children in her community. Contact us to schedule an initial consultation today.