What is ACL knee surgery and what are its complications?

ACL or the Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries mainly happen during sports activities like football, basketball, soccer, gymnastics, and other similar activities. ACL injuries are athletic injuries and patients might face swelling, discomfort, and pain. Majority of the ACL surgeries take place along with articular damage, ligament damage, and others. In this article, you’ll know what ACL surgery is and what complications can you face after surgery. Moreover, you’ll also get to know the role of an orthopedic expert witness in this regard.

As soon as ACL injury takes place, the patients will face huge swelling and pain with loss of motion. Initially, the doctor will perform X-rays and other tests to determine any fracture. ACL might be evaluated through MRI. This will also help the doctor to find other injuries. Another important test that’ll b conducted by your doctor is the Lachman’s test.

Depending on your condition, ACL surgery might be recommended.

Complications of ACL surgery:

ACL reconstruction is a surgical procedure and like any other procedure, it has lot of complications.

• Persistent knee pain
• Blood clots
• Bleeding
• Infection
• Loss of motion
• Chances of disease transmission if graft comes with the cadaver
• Chances if improper healing

Your Surgeon will evaluate your medical condition and risks before performing this injury. However, if your surgeon fails to do so, then there can be a case of surgical malpractice. If you think that you’ve been injured due to the negligence of the surgeon, you have the right to bring lawsuit against the surgeon.

Role of the orthopedic experts in ACL reconstruction surgery:

In order to seek expert guidance from an orthopedic expert witness, it’s important to retain an experienced attorney. The attorneys will call upon these experts to get detailed review of the case. The negligence of the surgeon needs to be determined which can be done only by an expert witness. These witnesses are called upon to provide important case reviews and prepare a report which is scientifically true and clinically proven.

The attorneys along with the experts need to establish 4 essential things in order to prove the negligence of the surgeon.

• Duty of Care
• The breach of duty of care
• Causation
• Damages caused

Out of all the things, the toughest part to establish is the causation. In this, it needs to be proved that it is due to the breach of duty of care that the patient has sustained injuries.  This is where the attorneys need the help of an expert witness. They go through the case thoroughly to find out the fault of the surgeons. Once it is established that the surgeon was responsible for the patient’s injury, the attorney files a malpractice lawsuit against the surgeon.

Retaining a lawyer is important because of the statute of limitations. There’s a time limit within which you need to file the lawsuit or you lose your right to get compensation. To settle with the highest amount, it’s mandatory to seek help from an attorney.