I'd be happy--the compensation OP should receive to keep it out of court will probably allow them to live pretty comfortably.. Grats, OP!!

Depends on what country you live in #50. I almost died due to gross negligence and had to pay all the astronomical bills myself, let alone I'd get compensated for it. Doctors close ranks faster than the blink of an eye. Btw, quality of life is much more important than a bit of money. I'm sure 1 problematic knee is bad enough..

Good point, #64. However, OP & I live in the USA--the land of frivolous lawsuits & generous compensation to prevent lawsuits in general. Sorry to hear about your experience, but I believe OP will come out of it well. What's the doc/hospital gonna do, claim it was actually the correct knee after changing some medical records? DocBastard would be the subject matter expert here, I believe.

When I had my knee surgery they made me draw an X on the bad knee myself. At the time I thought it was silly, now I can see why they do it. I'm so sorry OP, knee surgery is very painful, you poor thing.

Cheshire - Victims of medical malpractice aren't paid to prevent a lawsuit. A lawsuit is brought against the doctor, and the two sides often will settle out-of-court rather than bring a full trial. That said, according to a 0.835 second google search, in the US about 80% of lawsuits that actually go to trial and are decided by a jury are won by the doctor.

Thank you, Doc--I was barely familiar with the process. And I apologize for wasting those 0.835 seconds of your time to Google that!

#50, that's pretty much the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. 3 years ago I nearly died as a result of a doctors negligence during surgery. The seven figure settlement I got was absolutely not worth the 15 surgeries I've needed to fix that mistake. To suggest that medical malpractice is a positive thing and actually go so far as saying "congrats"? That's just wrong on so many levels

#50, If you actually knew anything about the realities of medical malpractice, you would not be saying "I'd be happy". Many people, including myself, have to deal with a lifetime of debilitating chronic pain as a result of medical mistakes. You really shouldn't make ignorant comments about things you don't understand.

--hunts19ketchup: I'm way sorry for your terrible experience, but shut the ever-loving **** up. If you wanna come on a satirical comedy site where people essentially get judged for their experiences--while bitching about your "seven-figure settlement" to make people jealous or whatever, then either start throwing that settlement money at us, or stop tossing your dumbass opinion into the internet. I didn't say I'd be happy about anything. I think a shitload of people would go through 15 (or more) surgeries for 7 figures--myself included. Henceforth, any post I see of yours on this site will always be followed up by something smartass, or the antithesis of what you said. I hope OP enjoys their settlement more than you've enjoyed yours.

Haha bitter much? If you really want to spend your free time seeking out my comments on this site just to refute them be my guest. Funny to see that you don't have anything more interesting going on. Apparently money is a very touchy subject for you, considering how upset you seem to be. I wasn't "bragging" about my settlement, I was just trying to prove a point that a lifetime of health issues isn't worth any amount of money to me. I'm tickled that you're so jealous though, considering what an ass you are :) have a nice day

And every time you make a point to respond rudely to one of my comments, I will smile to myself, knowing that you are so bitter about what I have that you are willing to take time out of your real life to try to upset me on a satirical internet site

Nope, hunts19ketchup--not bitter at all. Actually, I'll be even more not bitter if you wanna throw about 3 figures my way. Way to run with that, though--but I'll probably forget you shortly after this & just give you a thumbs-down. And yeah, money is touchy for a lot of people in the USA, and around the world.. Does that reflect on the content of our character or something? Smile away. That'll be 7 figures for your class on how not to be a dumbshit.

you would be lucky to get over 500000, most jurisdictions limit malpractice suits

Yes, it matters so little to you that you're still joking about me tossing you 3 figures. Food for thought: If you had even the remotest idea of what it's like to be cut 10 inches up and down on your abdomen repeatedly, once where you were conscious during surgery, you wouldn't be so quick to volunteer. Going at least 24 hours without being in excruciating pain is worth more to me than any amount of money. That doesn't mean I'm not grateful about the money I have. I just have a problem with people who say that they'd be glad to go through what I did as long as they'd get money when they really don't even know what I have been through. That's all this was. Why it had to turn into some big discussion I'm not really sure

Hey guys, I just discovered these really great things called "private messages", where you can name call and get upset at each other, and nobody else has to see it. I know! I thought it was too good to be true too! Try it, please?

awww but I like watching them flirt with eachother

Young love. Who knew.

Medical malpractice

I could imagine the surgeon, "Oh shit, I'm gonna say that one's my bad"

I've had knee surgery three times and each time the doctor has written "THIS ONE" in permanent marker on the leg that I was having surgery on.

My health law prof told us he did that when he had knee surgery once.He wrong all along one leg DO NOT OPERATE ON THIS LEG in black sharpie before he went in.

I know someone that had foot surgery. The doctor operated on the wrong foot. Instead of waiting for the wrong foot to heal, then doing the right one, the doc decided to do it while she was under. Needless to say, she did sue and won a huge settlement. Now the hospital makes the patient write a huge red X on their own limbs.

Every surgery I've had (8 in total) the surgeon(6 different surgeons) has had me put "cut here", "fix this part", "this is the knee you're working on" or something equally as dumb and then they signed under my writing. It's amazing that screw ups like this can happen.

This is the first story I've seen in quite a while that's actually worth the law suit. And I've even heard a story about a guy who went it to get an arm removed but they took off the wrong one.

If it was a doctors writing I'm surprised you could read what it said!

When my brother's friend was little, they took him to the doctor to get a shot he needed. Well the doctor ended up putting the wrong one and it left him limp for the rest of his life. I'm not sure how that's possible but that's the story his mom told me. They didn't sue which they should have, but they probably thought they didn't stand a chance because his parents were immigrants.

My surgeons always sign the shoulder/hip they have to operate on in sharpie. They ask three times, then sign, then ask to ensure they signed the right one.

#25 What if the DO NOT part got covered up by a sheet or something? Your law prof isn't as clever as he thinks.

#140 what if it's meant to be the left one?

I always thought the surgical team does this... draw on the area that needs the surgical operation so its harder to muck with the wrong one.

When I went, the pre-op dude wrote a large YES with a marker on my right ankle. I figured this was common practice. What the ****?

Surgeons usually make some type of Mark on the body part, or they should anyways.

Yes! Something on FML with a legitimate reason to sue.

I thought surgeons marked off areas to operate before doing so

probably, the only time i would agree with the sue comment on fml

This is one of the few times it is actually relevant :P

It sounds crazy, but I can see how this can happen. Everyone makes mistakes at work, even those who are the very best in their field. I almost always had a discrepancy of at least a few cents at the of the day in my register total when I worked as a cashier. Now that I work in aviation maintenance, the consequences of my mistakes are far worse than a customer getting ripped off of some change. The same is true for doctors. I am usually painstakingly thorough in my inspections, but I recently failed to notice that one of the engines was low on oil, which set the flight schedule back a little bit. An obvious mistake that shouldn't have been made, but eh, not that big a deal. But about a year ago, someone who is well respected and was very experienced and had a long record of excellence made a far worse mistake. He left a flashlight in the flight control gears of the aircraft... And then it went flying. Luckily, the aircraft flew and landed safely, and his mistake was discovered later, but obviously, people could have died as a result. That mistake was very out of character for him, but he still made it. I imagine excellent doctors make similarly stupid mistakes. They're people like everyone else. Their mistakes just have far worse consequences than those of other professionals. Not that this doctor shouldn't be held responsible or that OP shouldn't be compensated. Rather, he should be made to suffer for his mistake. It's the only way to ensure he won't screw up like that again, and set an example for others, so as to make the occurrence of these mistakes as minimal as possible.

I have had 6 knee surgeries and I can for a fact say this had to be one huge series of screw ups for this to actually happen. when you check in every single nurse or attendant confirms what limb they are working on. then the anesthesiologist comes in and confirms as well as initials the limb. then the doctor comes in and confirms and initials the limb. if those steps weren't done you should have left before they even started. medical malpractice at its finest.

Sounds like it was a middle-man, like a nurse who was supposed to confirm the limb, or the person who was supposed to mark it, that screwed up rather than the surgeon then.

This actually happens commonly. I've even heard stories of people getting a foot amputated because they got mistaken for another patient.

Actually, asking the patient what is going to be done and putting some kind of notation on the part to be operated on is a Standard of Practice, at least here in the States, developed to prevent just this kind of mistake. When I had Cataract surgery, the nurse asked me which eye was going to be operated on, then handed me a marker and told me to put an "X" over that eye. Only then did she give me the consent to sign.