Arthroscopic Knee Surgery Settlements

When surgical errors occur, injured patients often pursue arthroscopic knee surgery settlements to recover compensation for the harm they’ve suffered. Although this procedure is considered minimally invasive, mistakes during arthroscopic knee surgery can lead to serious complications, including nerve damage, infection, or loss of joint function. 

Surgeons have a legal and professional duty to perform with care, and when they fail, they may be held liable through a malpractice claim. At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, we represent individuals harmed by surgical negligence and help them navigate the complex path to a fair settlement. Book a free consultation with a surgical error lawyer in Chicago today.

Arthroscopic Knee Surgery Settlements Recovered by Our Chicago Law Firm

• $250,000 – A cyclist traveling during rush hour was hit by a motorist who failed to yield on a busy city street. The impact caused significant trauma to the cyclist’s knee, requiring arthroscopic surgery to address internal joint damage.
• $105,000 – While on a training ride, an amateur triathlete was hit by a vehicle attempting an unsafe pass. The crash resulted in a knee injury that necessitated arthroscopic repair. 

What is Arthroscopic Knee Surgery?

Arthroscopic knee surgery is a procedure where a surgeon uses a small tube to access the inside of the knee, allowing them to repair damage to the tissue. Arthroscopic surgery is minimally invasive and is used to repair the damage from car accident injuries, workplace accidents, and sports accidents, among other injury cases.

Common Reasons for Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

Arthroscopic surgery is often used to repair knee injuries because of its fast recovery time. Several common injuries are often fixed by arthroscopic knee surgery.

Meniscus Tears

The meniscus is a set of crescent-shaped ligaments in the knee that cushion the hard parts of the knee. If they tear, your knee loses much of the cushioning and can be painful to walk on. 

Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Tears

ACL tears and PCL tears are common in sports that require quick turns and place a lot of stress on knees and ankles. Both ligaments support the knee and stabilize it, especially when changing direction. 

Walking can be nearly impossible if either tears. The ligaments must be repaired, and you will require significant physical therapy to bring your knee back to its previous performance. 

Cartilage Damage

Cartilage is the soft connective tissue in the knee that works as padding and helps give your knees structure. Unfortunately, it is relatively easy to tear. Cartilage tears are painful and can cause the fluid in your knee that makes it move smoothly to leak out. You may need arthroscopic surgery to repair the tear. 

Loose Bodies in the Knee Joint

If you have a bone fracture or buildup of foreign material in your knee, you may need surgery to have it removed. The loose bodies in the knee joint can be extracted arthroscopically.

Potential Complications of Arthroscopic Knee Surgery

Like any other surgery, arthroscopic surgery can have complications that lead to more serious injuries. Your care provider can minimize the chances of complications leading to more injuries. Failing to manage those complications or failing to provide quality medical treatment often leads to personal injury cases. 

The average settlement in personal injury cases may cover lost wages, the cost of extensive medical treatment, other medical bills, and more due to mistakes made during your knee arthroscopy. Although these procedures are often due to common knee injuries, mistakes can lead to more extensive procedures, such as a total knee replacement. 

Risks and Complications

Surgery complications can happen at any time and result from poor practices in a medical facility. These are some of the most common surgery complications that can lead to legal action and knee surgery settlements. 

Infection and Blood Clots

Failing to sanitize tools or the incision area can lead to an infection after the surgery. Infections that start in surgery are more dangerous since the infection often starts deep in the body in the surgical incision. 

Likewise, medical facilities failing to maintain safety protocols, including providing the right medications on time or getting patients to move at regular intervals, can lead to a potentially life-threatening clot getting stuck in different parts of the body. 

Nerve Damage, Stiffness, or Limited Range of Motion

A surgery where the repair is done incorrectly can limit the range of motion of your knee or cause problems like nerve damage that limits mobility. Limited motion can cause other issues, such as a longer recovery time, the need for more physical therapy, more medical expenses, and missing work. 

Failure to Resolve the Underlying Problem

It is possible that knee injuries are not resolved by surgery, despite having it. If this happens, the surgeon and other care providers may be liable since they put you through a surgery that commonly fixes severe injuries, but didn’t work because of something they did wrong. 

Medical Negligence and Surgical Errors

Negligence is caused by various problems, including laziness, skipping procedures, and being unprepared for surgery. Likewise, surgical errors can occur for similar reasons. Both problems can lead to liability issues if a patient is injured during surgery. 

Even if the original injury occurred at work and qualifies for a workers’ compensation claim, workers’ compensation won’t cover medical negligence. Instead, you’ll need an experienced workers’ compensation lawyer in Chicago to help you recover things such as additional lost wages, knee pain, and other medical expenses. 

Improper Surgical Technique

Fixing knee injuries with improper surgical technique can turn a simple knee repair into a total knee replacement surgery. All surgeries have prescribed techniques and procedures surgeons must follow unless they have a very good reason to deviate. 

Failure to Diagnose or Treat Complications

Failing to diagnose or treat complications can lead to further damage and medical expenses for fixing a simple knee injury. Based on the circumstances, you may file a personal injury lawsuit against the surgeon or the facility for several things, including additional medical expenses related to their mistake. 

Lack of Informed Consent

Before you undergo knee surgery, care facilities must get informed consent from the patient or their proxy. Lack of informed consent is not only bad practice but also illegal in many cases. 

Grounds for a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Medical malpractice happens when a care provider fails to meet the established standard of care, acts negligently or recklessly, and their actions result in more harm to the patient. If you were involved in a failed knee surgery or ended up in a worse condition afterward, you may have a malpractice case. 

Establishing Medical Negligence

Four specific things must be addressed in the case: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. 

Duty of care is the established standard for medical care providers. Your medical malpractice attorney in Chicago must prove a breach of duty when it comes to the care that you were provided. If the care provider did not meet the standard of care, this could be considered a breach of duty. 

Your lawyer also shows that you were injured because of what your care provider did or did not do. Finally, your lawyer has to show the damages that resulted from the provider’s actions. This forms the basis of determining how much compensation you are entitled to collect at the end of the trial. 

Knee replacement settlement amounts often depend on various factors, including your quality of life after maximum medical improvement. The judge will consider if you’ve developed other injuries due to your knee injury. For example, falling can result in foot injuries or shoulder injuries. The injury severity will be considered, too. 

Proving Negligence in Arthroscopic Knee Surgery Cases

There are several ways to prove negligence in an arthroscopic knee surgery case. Records are important in contextualizing what went wrong during this minimally invasive procedure and how it impacted you medically. 

Expert witness testimony can be combined with medical records to help the judge and jury understand the case’s specifics. Having someone who can explain medical records and procedures in a way that is easy for anyone to understand can make a big difference in your knee injury settlement. 

Seeking Compensation for Damages

Since you suffered damages at the hands of medical specialists, you may be able to take legal action to seek compensation. For this, you may need to file a personal injury lawsuit with the help of a lawyer. 

Types of Damages in Medical Malpractice Cases

Your lawsuit consists of claims for different types of damages. Some of the most common damages include:

• Medical Expenses: Bills related to medical services
• Lost Wages: Lost income from missing work
• Pain and Suffering: The impact of the situation on your mental and emotional health
• Loss of Enjoyment of Life: The impact of losing the ability to be fully active in your life
• Future Medical Costs: Medical costs that are ongoing or are likely to come up later

There are other types of damages you can file claims for, so it is important to work with legal help to ensure you file all the right claims for your case. It is also important to file for the right amount of compensation. Otherwise, you run the risk of running out of money before your recovery is complete. 

Calculating Settlement Value

Since every case is different, there is no standard settlement value for an arthroscopic surgery settlement. However, your lawyer can help you estimate your settlement based on the claims in your case. Many of the claims you can file have definite values, and calculating those gives you a starting spot. If the plaintiff suffered more severe injuries, they’ll likely get a larger settlement.

The Role of an Attorney in Arthroscopic Knee Surgery Cases

An attorney plays an important role in arthroscopic knee surgery cases by helping deal with the legal aspects of your recovery. While trying to recover physically, your lawyer takes charge of your case and ensures everything is progressing smoothly. They are your advocate for taking legal action over knee injuries. 

Investigating the Case

The lawyer begins by investigating your case thoroughly rather than relying on reports from the care provider. They collect all the data they can on the situation, looking for key pieces of information to use as the basis of your case. 

Negotiating with Insurance Companies

Insurance companies are not on your side, but your lawyer is. Your insurance company will offer you a smaller knee injury settlement than you deserve, so your lawyer will handle negotiations. 

A deal like a knee replacement surgery settlement can be negotiated with the insurance company. Having a lawyer with significant experience will make a substantial difference in the outcome of your case. 

Litigating the Case

If needed, your lawyer can litigate your case for you. Workers’ compensation involving knee injury claims often leads to litigation since companies limit the amount you can collect on a claim. Your lawyer can take it to trial and fight to get you every cent you are owed.

Secure Expert Legal Counsel!

Leg injuries leading to workers’ compensation claims and knee surgeries are, unfortunately, more common than they should be. All you can do is protect your future by taking legal action to get the compensation you deserve. For this, you can benefit from the help of a skilled personal injury lawyer in Chicago.

At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, we work with people like you who have been injured at work or suffered another injury due to a failed knee surgery. Our focus is on making sure that you get all of the compensation that you are owed. Let us help you fight for the compensation that you deserve. 

Book a free consultation by filling out our contact form or calling toll-free at (888) 424-5757. 

All content undergoes thorough legal review by experienced attorneys, including Jonathan Rosenfeld. With 25 years of experience in personal injury law and over 100 years of combined legal expertise within our team, we ensure that every article is legally accurate, compliant, and reflects current legal standards.