Primary Location
Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyers
2700 N Central Ave Suite 320, Phoenix, AZ 85004, United States
Phone: (602) 905-7766
Call us at (855) 855-8910
Call us at (855) 855-8910
In Phoenix, surgical mistakes happen way more often than you'd think. And when a surgeon operates on the wrong knee, leaves a sponge inside your abdomen, or nicks an artery they should have avoided? Your life changes fast.
We're the surgical error lawyers at The Simon Law Group. Our team handles these cases across Maricopa County and the rest of Arizona. We go after surgeons, hospitals, and the insurance companies backing them. Call us at (602) 905-7766 for a free case review. You won't pay a dime unless we win.
A surgical error is a preventable mistake during an operation. Not a known risk your doctor warned you about beforehand. Big difference. Arizona calls the worst ones "never events," because they shouldn't happen. Period.
The most common types:
If what happened to you doesn't match what your surgeon said to expect, something went wrong.
A bad outcome after surgery isn't automatically malpractice. But certain mistakes are so avoidable that there's really no excuse. These are the ones we see in Maricopa County courtrooms.
Operating on the left knee instead of the right. Performing a procedure meant for the patient next door. These get called "never events" because surgical teams have checklists and time-out protocols specifically designed to stop them. When those steps get skipped, that's on the team.
Here's one that surprises people. Sponges, clamps, even needles get left inside patients after surgery. It happens because someone rushed the closing or didn't complete the instrument count. Every OR has a counting protocol. When the count comes up wrong and nobody catches it, you've got a clear breach.
Too much sedation puts you at risk for brain damage. Too little and you wake up during the procedure. Failure to watch your oxygen or heart rate during surgery kills people. The anesthesiologist has their own separate duty of care, independent from your surgeon.
A surgeon who cuts a nerve or punctures your bowel during an operation either lost focus or lacked the skill for the job. These injuries often mean going back under the knife for corrective procedures, plus months of recovery you shouldn't have needed.
Sometimes the operation goes fine. The problem starts when nobody monitors you afterward. Infection spreading unchecked. Internal bleeding no one catches. Blood clots forming while nursing staff ignores the warning signs. Phoenix hospitals and outpatient surgery centers both carry post-op obligations, and both get it wrong.
Anesthesia dosing errors and post-op prescribing mistakes often come up in the same medical records, which is why these cases run alongside our drug administration mistakes work.
A surgical error doesn't just extend your hospital stay. What comes after is often worse than whatever you went in to fix.
We're talking about:
Some folks bounce back after months of treatment. But others are dealing with the fallout for the rest of their lives. And when the error is bad enough, families lose someone over a mistake that had no business happening.
One thing most people miss? The financial hit from a surgical error dwarfs the cost of the original procedure. Stack up the corrective surgeries, extended rehab, lost paychecks, and emotional damage, and you're looking at a case with serious value. Arizona law lets you pursue every dollar of it.
Nerve damage, amputation complications, and retained foreign objects can turn a routine procedure into permanent injury representation, where lifetime care costs dominate the damages analysis.
A bad outcome after surgery doesn't always mean someone screwed up. Surgeries carry risks. Your doctor should've spelled them out before the procedure. The question is whether your outcome was one of those known risks, or something the surgeon caused through carelessness.
You signed a consent form before your operation. That form lists the things that can go wrong even when the surgeon does everything right. Infection. Bleeding. Reaction to anesthesia. Those are known risks.
But if your surgeon sliced a nerve because they were rushing? That's not on the consent form. That's a mistake.
Signing that form doesn't give your surgeon permission to do whatever they want. The consent covers what was discussed. If they performed a different procedure than what you agreed to, or left out a risk they knew about, that signature means nothing.
Your surgeon calls it a complication. Fine. But ask yourself: did the team follow the checklist? Was the OR properly staffed? Did someone sterilize the instruments correctly? When the answer to any of those is no, what they're labeling a complication is actually a failure to follow the rules.
Trust your gut. If something about your recovery feels wrong, it probably is. A medical malpractice attorney can pull your records and tell you straight whether the standard of care was met.
Clients in Phoenix ask us this all the time. Do I go after the surgeon or the hospital? Usually, the answer is both. And sometimes it's even more parties than that.
The person with the scalpel takes direct blame for the technical mistake. Wrong-site surgery, a punctured organ, nerve damage during the procedure, that's all on the operating surgeon.
Don't let the hospital off easy. Under Arizona vicarious liability rules, a hospital that employs your surgeon shares the blame. And even when the surgeon is technically an independent contractor, the hospital is still on the hook for things like:
Anesthesiologists and CRNAs carry their own separate liability. A dosing error, missed vital signs, or slow response to an airway emergency during sedation? That's independent from whatever the surgeon did wrong.
Nurses run pre-op prep, handle instrument counts, and monitor you after the procedure. A nurse who skips the sponge count or doesn't catch signs of hemorrhaging after surgery played a role in the harm.
Not every surgical error comes from a human. A faulty drill bit, a defective implant, or a malfunctioning surgical robot brings the manufacturer into the picture through a product liability claim.
Something went wrong during your surgery. Now what? Your health is the priority. But the decisions you make right now will directly affect your legal case down the road.
Don't ask the same team that hurt you to explain what happened. Find an independent doctor. A separate physician reviewing your case gives you honest answers, and their opinion creates a medical record that isn't controlled by the people who made the mistake.
Arizona law says those records belong to you. Request your surgical notes, anesthesia logs, pre-op imaging, and everything from post-op. Put the request in writing. Keep your own copy.
Grab a notebook. Document your symptoms every day, your pain levels, what you can and can't do. Photograph the surgical site, any bruising, any swelling. Hold onto every bill, every receipt, every piece of mail from the hospital.
The hospital will probably reach out. Their risk management people might want you to sign something or give a statement. Don't. Anything you say gets used to shrink your claim later.
Arizona gives you two years from when you found out about the error. Sounds like enough time, but malpractice cases take months to put together. Earlier is better. Reach our Phoenix office at (602) 905-7766.
You can also file a complaint with the Arizona Medical Board [3] if you believe your surgeon acted improperly.
Medical malpractice claims are tougher than regular injury cases. Arizona has rules you have to follow before your case goes anywhere. Here's the breakdown.
Every surgical malpractice case in Arizona comes down to these four elements:
You need all four. Drop one and the case falls apart.
Before the lawsuit moves, Arizona law (A.R.S. 12-2603) [1] says you need a qualified medical expert to review your case and put in writing that the surgeon breached the standard of care. No affidavit, no case. The court will toss it. We handle this process from start to finish.
Here's where surgical error cases get expensive. You need a surgeon in the same specialty to testify about what should have been done differently and why the mistake caused your specific injury. Finding the right expert matters. We work with medical professionals who testify regularly in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Two years. That's your window under A.R.S. 12-542. The countdown starts when you discovered the error, or when you should have discovered it. For retained objects found during a later scan, or infections that surface months after surgery, the discovery rule applies. But don't gamble on it. Call sooner.
Surgical errors follow the same expert-witness and standard-of-care framework as every other corner of our hospital malpractice litigation in Phoenix, but the evidence trail runs through OR records, anesthesia logs, and implant tracking.
Here's the good news for patients in Arizona. Your state constitution has your back. Article 2, Section 31 of the Arizona Constitution [2] says the legislature cannot cap personal injury damages. No limits. A jury decides what you get.
These are the bills you can count:
These cover what the injury cost you personally:
When a surgical error kills someone, Arizona lets surviving spouses, kids, and parents file a wrongful death claim. That covers funeral expenses, lost financial support, and loss of companionship.
We take surgical error cases on contingency. No retainer, no hourly rate, no upfront costs. Our fee comes from the recovery. If we don't win, you don't pay.
The damages available to a surgical-error victim are the same ones our Phoenix injury compensation work pursues in every case — economic losses, pain and suffering, and future care costs.
Surgical error litigation isn't cheap. Expert witnesses, medical record analysis, and depositions add up fast. Most personal injury firms won't touch these cases because the investment scares them off.
We're different. Our team brings over 250 years of combined legal experience to these cases, and we've recovered more than $250 million for injury clients. We front every cost, from expert retention to court filings. You don't pay anything out of pocket.
Our Phoenix office sits at 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320, right on Central Avenue in downtown. We take calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Because surgical problems don't wait for Monday morning, and neither should you.
Dial (602) 905-7766 any time.
Our attorneys have handled personal injury cases across Arizona and California. We know how Phoenix insurance companies operate, and we know how to push back.
That number reflects real results for real families — medical bills paid, lost wages recovered, and futures protected.
You pay nothing upfront. Our fee comes out of your settlement or verdict. If we do not win your case, you owe us nothing.
Accidents do not follow business hours. Neither do we. Call (602) 905-7766 any time — nights, weekends, and holidays.
Our Phoenix team works out of 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320. We know the roads, the courts, and the insurance adjusters you are up against.
“After a crash, you need a team that answers the phone, explains your options, and fights for every dollar you are owed. That is what we do at The Simon Law Group.”
Over 250 years of combined attorney experience
Phoenix office at 2700 N Central Ave, Suite 320 |
Licensed in Arizona and California
Yes. If what happened fell below the accepted standard of care and it caused you harm, Arizona law gives you a medical malpractice claim. A bad outcome alone isn't enough, but preventable errors like wrong-site surgery or a retained sponge absolutely qualify.
Two years from when you found out about the error, or when you reasonably should have found out. Retained objects discovered during a later scan or infections that show up months after surgery fall under Arizona's discovery rule. But don't sit on it.
These are mistakes so bad they shouldn't happen under any circumstances. Wrong-site surgery, wrong-patient surgery, and foreign objects left inside you are the big three. Courts take them seriously because they create a strong presumption that someone was negligent.
Absolutely. Arizona requires a preliminary expert opinion, called an affidavit of merit, before your case moves forward. A qualified surgeon reviews what happened and puts in writing that the standard of care was breached. We line up the experts for you.
In many cases, yes. Arizona vicarious liability rules mean the hospital shares responsibility when they employ the surgeon. Hospitals also face direct claims for understaffing, ignoring safety protocols, or credentialing a surgeon who shouldn't have been in the OR.
No. The Arizona Constitution bans damage caps for personal injury. There's no ceiling on economic damages, pain and suffering, or any other category. What you recover is up to the jury.
Our Location