That’s a complex question. The term “standard of care” is used by medical malpractice attorneys in malpractice cases. The standard of care is typically defined as what other similarly trained attorneys in the same geographic area with about the same amount of experience would do in a particular situation.
Intraoperative neuromonitoring means monitoring the nervous system during certain surgical procedures to ensure that the body is responding as it is supposed to. In some intraoperative neuromonitoring cases, the monitoring is not correctly performed and the surgery goes poorly.
To determine whether or not medical malpractice has occurred, in most cases you look at the standard of care and compare it with what actually happened. Currently, there is no clear medical standard of care for intraoperative neuromonitoring or for when it should occur. Some surgeons who perform spinal surgeries use it in all of their cases, and some use it in only some surgeries. Some surgeons do not use it at all because of a belief that it does little to help with safety.
However, just because standards of care in intraoperative neuromonitoring do not exist or are still developing does not mean that you cannot seek compensation if you are harmed during a procedure involving intraoperative neuromonitoring. Call me, Conal Doyle, IONM attorney if you had a surgical procedure that was being monitored go wrong. My team can help. Call us today at 310-385-0567 to learn more.