Although most hospital procedures are performed without incident, things can sometimes go wrong. When damage is caused through hospital negligence, the patient can consider attempting to receive compensation through the New Mexico court system. In the case of one Albuquerque woman who claims to have been injured during a procedure at a Planned Parenthood clinic, that compensation may come not only from the clinic itself but also from the two doctors involved in her procedure.
The woman is suing because of injuries allegedly sustained while she was undergoing a tubal ligation procedure. Three days after the procedure, a perforated bowel forced her to receive emergency surgery. The clinic and doctors maintain, in a court response filed in November, that they were not responsible for the perforated bowel. Seven months after the tubal ligation, a procedure performed solely to sterilize the patient, the woman became pregnant.
The tubal ligation procedure was performed on Aug. 29, 2011, and emergency surgery was completed on Sept. 1, 2011, at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The woman is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages in her lawsuit, which was filed on Sept. 7.
Hospital negligence suits are not uncommon in New Mexico. Residents of the state have a legal right to seek compensation that covers the cost of medical procedures when a hospital injures rather than aids patients. They also have the right to recover damages for related expenses that aren’t directly medical in nature, such as lost wages due to time off for the injury and even potential future wages if the injuries are so serious that they lead to a lowered ability to earn.
Source: ABQ Journal, “Suit: Tubal Ligation Causes Injury,” Olivier Uyttebrouck, Dec. 15, 2012
