The surgery wasn’t a routine tonsillectomy. The child was obese; the surgery was in part designed to address her severe sleep apnea. So it was complicated. Complicated surgeries often result in less than desired outcomes. Whether or not the hospital or any medical professional was negligent remains to be determined.
Fortunately for lawyers, there is a zero defect expectation for every service provided in the United States.
Unfortunately for doctors, there are few zero defect patients.
This young child was not the picture of health and I am sure the insurance companies and their attorneys are already deciding how many zero’s go on the check. Regardless of my skepticism, it is a heartbreaking story and I am sorry for the family and the medical staff involved. Life happens and any time you go under anesthesia there is a risk made worse if you are in poor health to start with. The plaintiffs attorney will make it sound like the most negligent operation in the world when the reality is that nobody at that hospital went to work that day intending for this to happen.