Comedian Dana Carvey Sues Cardiac Surgeon for Life-Threatening Surgical Error

Carvey had his surgery, and while all appeared to be well, he soon began to experience the same discomfort that he had been experiencing previously. When he brought this up with his doctors, they assured him that it was simply the aftereffects of the surgery that was causing him to feel that way, and that he did not have to worry. No one could have imagined the life-threatening blunder that would be revealed two months later.

Carvey’s discomfort did not go away, and he eventually returned to his regular doctors for a second opinion. It was here that the gross negligence and medical malpractice of the doctors who conducted his surgery were uncovered, and it was revealed that the incorrect artery had been operated on and that the blockage in Carvey’s diseased artery remained.

Thankfully, Carvey did not require another open-heart surgery to rectify the problem, but he did have to undergo another angioplasty to clear the blocked artery. After he made a complete recovery, Carvey filed a $7.5 million medical malpractice lawsuit against the surgeon that made the mistake. He did this to recover damages for the six months he spent recovering from the angioplasty, which forced him to turn down offers to commercials, a television series, and a position on the “Hollywood Squares” game show. In fact, Carvey was so drained of energy during his recovery, he was only able to work three days a week doing stand-up comedy, and lost a significant portion of his income during that time.

Despite making a full recovery, Carvey highlights the emotional turmoil that he had to endure and cites this as also being one of the major reasons why he pursued his medical malpractice lawsuit.

Legal Matters

While many errors in healthcare are inevitable, surgical errors are often the most debilitating. They are termed “never events” because they should never have occurred in the first place.

If you live in NYC and want to legally address a surgical error and pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit, you will need to hire an NYC medical malpractice lawyer who can guide you through the process while adhering to the state laws of NYC.

As your NYC medical malpractice attorney will explain, the following basic steps need to be followed to file a medical malpractice lawsuit correctly:

1. Contact the medical professional involved
2. Contact the appropriate medical licensing board if the medical professional does not respond to you appropriately
3. Find out the statute of limitations
4. Get a certificate of merit
5. Consider settling out of court

Contact

If it is your belief that you may have been a victim of a surgical error, please feel free to contact the medical malpractice lawyers of Rosenburg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff LLP in NYC for a free and confidential consultation.

We are always ready to listen, and you can talk to us by calling 212-344-1000 today.