Of the 524 firms on our 92 city lists in the United States, Schochor, Staton, Goldberg, and Cardea, P.A. scores highest on malpractice focus, published results, client reviews and experience, followed by Hastings Law Firm and The Law Offices of Dr. Michael M. Wilson MD, JD & Associates. Each firm keeps its best score from the cities it serves; open a city for its full list.
Best Hernia Surgery Malpractice Lawyers in the United States
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4.8181 Google reviewsRated 4.8 out of 5 on Google from 181 reviews
Best for: Birth injury and hospital negligence
In its published cases, Schochor, Staton, Goldberg, and Cardea, P.A. describes oxygen deprivation during delivery and Erb’s palsy; it also publishes verdicts involving deaths after hospital care.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
4.6102 Google reviewsRated 4.6 out of 5 on Google from 102 reviews
Best for: Misdiagnosis and surgical injury claims
Among Hastings Law Firm's published results are a $19,750,000 failure-to-diagnose settlement and a $10,700,000 negligent-prescribing jury verdict. Because it focuses on malpractice and publishes those results, it tops this list.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
5.0216 Google reviewsRated 5.0 out of 5 on Google from 216 reviews
Best for: Delayed diagnosis and anesthesia injuries
An alleged delayed diagnosis of HSV encephalitis is behind the $11.65 million result published by The Law Offices of Dr. Michael M. Wilson MD, JD & Associates. For negligent anesthesia care, it reports another result of $8 million.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
4.724 Google reviewsRated 4.7 out of 5 on Google from 24 reviews
Best for: Misdiagnosis and surgical injury claims
A $12 million misdiagnosis result stands out among the cases published by The Law Offices of Cardaro & Peek, LLC. For negligent surgery, it lists a $7.9 million result; for breast cancer misdiagnosis, it lists $7.1 million.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
4.7226 Google reviewsRated 4.7 out of 5 on Google from 226 reviews
Best for: Birth injury and delayed diagnosis
Among Wapner Newman Attorneys At Law's listed results are $8.4 million for brain injury after a delayed diagnosis and $7 million for birth trauma causing brain damage.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
Hernia surgery malpractice lawyers by state
The rules change from one state to the next, so the lawyers near you are the ones to call.
Hernia surgery malpractice can involve preventable harm from the repair itself or from the care that follows it. Patients with bowel injuries or nerve damage can ask for a review. A complication alone doesn't establish malpractice. The review must look at what care you should have received and what went wrong to decide whether a failure caused harm.
Your medical care comes first. Contact your treating clinician if you're worried about recovery, rather than waiting for a legal assessment. A lawyer in your state can answer your legal questions about the rules that apply to your operation and the care you received afterward.
What a hernia surgery claim may involve
A hernia repair is an operation performed by a surgeon. When reviewing a claim, a lawyer asks whether the operation or the decision to perform it met the required standard of care. What happened afterward gets reviewed as well. Because accounts of hernia surgery don't all describe the same procedure, check your records to see which repair you actually had.
During your operation, mesh may have been used. According to Van Law Firm’s discussion of hernia mesh surgery, a hernia repair is likely to involve mesh. If you want to know whether yours did, check the operative report. That question can't be answered by another patient's experience.
Even if you're focused on the surgeon's work, a review may cover other care. Allegations listed in Texas Medical Liability Trust’s hernia repair case study include inadequate informed consent and improper performance of the repair. An inappropriate order for a TAP block appears among the allegations too. The listed allegations aren't proof that each of those actions was negligent.
How an injury or missed complication becomes a concern
A lawyer reviewing your care may ask whether surgery caused an avoidable injury, but there's another question: did the care team recognize the problem afterward and respond to it? Keep them separate. The follow-up records can help explain what happened over the course of your care, even if the injury occurred during the operation.
According to one commenter in a Reddit discussion about hernia surgery, a bowel puncture during a laparoscopic inguinal repair went unnoticed during the operation and afterward. What you're reading is a patient's account. Although it isn't a verified medical finding, the account illustrates the difference between an injury and an alleged failure to recognize that injury.
After describing prolonged care and then mesh removal, another commenter in that discussion said they felt better afterward. Why they had symptoms isn't established by that account. Whether removing mesh would help you isn't something it can tell you either.
Warning signs need medical attention, not online interpretation
The linked accounts aren't a checklist you can rely on to spot warning signs after a hernia repair. Those accounts can't tell you whether your recovery is normal. They also can't tell you that a symptom you're having proves there's a bowel injury or nerve damage. Your treating clinician is the person to ask about what your symptoms mean and what care you need.
Write down the symptoms you reported and when you reported them so they can be reviewed later. Note the response you got. A note about calling with a new problem is more useful if it names the person you reached and records the instructions that person gave you.
What makes it malpractice rather than a bad outcome
Being hurt doesn't, by itself, establish malpractice. The review has to examine the standard of care before linking an alleged failure to the injury you suffered. You don't have to make that medical judgment yourself; the questions below can help you ask a lawyer why a bad outcome might or might not be malpractice.
Standard of care: What should your surgeon or another clinician have done in the circumstances you faced? What kind of medical review will the lawyer need to evaluate your operation or the clinicians' response to your symptoms?
Departure from that standard: What does the claim say someone did wrong, or failed to do, while providing your care? If you're alleging improper surgery, “The repair went badly” doesn't explain specifically enough what went wrong.
Causation: How did the failure you're alleging cause your injury or make it worse? Knowing when a symptom started matters, but that doesn't explain how a failure in your care caused harm.
Harm: What do your records say about the injury and the changes it caused in your life? Describe what changed in your daily life and the further treatment you needed, without trying to diagnose the problem.
Tell the lawyer plainly about anything you don't know yet. A later clinician might have discussed a bowel injury with you, for example, without your having seen that statement recorded in the chart. The visit note might describe things differently from your recollection that someone ignored a symptom you reported. Ask the lawyer to look into those unanswered questions.
Consent is a separate part of the review
The Texas Medical Liability Trust case study lists inadequate informed consent as one of the allegations. If you're concerned about what you were told before surgery, save the consent form along with any written discussion of the procedure. Your written account should distinguish what you remember yourself from the details you learned by reading the documents you have.
A signature doesn't settle every question about the conversation you had. It doesn't prove the operation was performed improperly, either; that's a different question. Our informed consent page discusses that separate concern. To understand how it relates to your case, ask a lawyer in your state.
What a published hernia repair result can tell you
In a surgical malpractice case involving a right inguinal hernia repair, Porter’s own site reports a settlement. According to the firm, established surgical practices weren't followed by the surgeon. Because it describes one case, the account isn't a finding about the treatment you received.
Date of the right inguinal hernia repair described in Porter’s settlement report
If you're considering your own case, these dates neither set your filing deadline nor predict how long it would take. As for a settlement amount, the description doesn't give one. To estimate what your injury might be worth, you can't rely on this account.
Mesh concerns may require a different legal review
Explain whether the device itself or the way it was used concerns you if your repair involved mesh. If the care afterward concerns you too, tell the lawyer about it. Until it's reviewed, you may not know which explanation fits (that's a question for the review). Rather than labeling the case yourself, ask the lawyer to assess what separates those concerns.
According to Salenger, Sack, Kimmel & Bavaro’s hernia mesh page, patients may qualify for a mesh lawsuit if they suffered complications and needed a second operation. Even with “may qualify” in the description, eligibility isn't confirmed. If you need another operation, that alone doesn't prove negligence by the original surgeon.
Prepare for a case review
Turn your experience into a clear record
1
Write a short timeline
Before adding the operation date, start with the decision to have surgery. After noting the first problem, record your later appointments. If you can't remember a date exactly, mark it as approximate.
2
Request the surgery and follow-up records
When requesting the operative report and discharge instructions, ask for consent documents too. If you had later treatment, include those records. Ask the lawyer what else they need from your records to review your concern.
3
Keep your communications
If you have patient-portal messages or written instructions, keep them. For each telephone conversation, note when it happened and what you remember. Label a note you've reconstructed so it won't be mistaken for a recording or an original chart entry.
4
Describe the impact
Describe any further care you needed after surgery, including how things changed at work or in your daily life. Your bills will be easier to follow if you keep them apart from your symptom timeline.
5
Ask about the review and deadline
Give the lawyer in your state the dates you know when you discuss your care. Ask what medical assessment is needed for your concerns about surgery or later treatment, and which care will need to be reviewed. Ask about the filing rules, too.
Even when information conflicts, include it. Include a clinician's explanation even when it differs from what you understood had happened to you. The lawyer needs to compare your account with the chart, not just read the entries you've picked because they seem to support a claim.
Deadlines differ by state
Medical malpractice deadlines aren't the same in every state, so where you file matters. A date in an online case report won't tell you what statute of limitations applies to you. Our state pages are a starting point; a lawyer in the state where you received care can explain how its rules apply to what happened to you.
Look at the care after surgery too
When describing care on the ward or after discharge, keep those concerns separate from concerns about the operation. To help frame questions about hospital care, you can read our hospital and nursing negligence page. If a complication was missed, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis may be a concern too.
Although these categories help organize questions, they don't tell you who was responsible for the care. When naming the clinicians involved, explain what each encounter was about. Read our page on anesthesia errors if you have concerns about anesthesia care as well.
Don't worry about polishing your account. If you honestly identify the gaps, a short timeline gives the lawyer somewhere to start. Because this page gives general information, it isn't legal advice about your treatment and doesn't conclude that malpractice occurred.
If you've had a complication, you may have reason to request a legal review. To establish malpractice, the review must examine the applicable standard of care and whether a departure caused harm; a complication alone doesn't establish it. When describing your operation, include the care afterward. By reviewing your records, a lawyer in your state can assess whether they support a claim and explain the rules for filing.
Is a bowel injury during hernia repair always malpractice?
Even with a bowel injury, the legal question remains open. To assess the care, the review must examine how the injury happened and whether the response afterward met the applicable standard of care. In one Reddit comment, a bowel puncture was described as allegedly missed. Because that account isn't a medical finding or a rule for other patients, your operative report and follow-up records need to be assessed separately.
Can nerve damage after hernia surgery support a claim?
If nerve damage concerns you, you can raise it in a hernia surgery malpractice review. To decide whether it supports a claim, the review must consider your treatment and whether an alleged failure is linked to the injury. When speaking with the lawyer, explain what clinicians diagnosed. If the diagnosis is uncertain, explain that rather than assuming your symptoms establish nerve damage.
Is a hernia mesh lawsuit the same as surgical malpractice?
Even with mesh involved, the two can differ. To understand the difference, ask the lawyer whether your concern is about the mesh itself or the care surrounding its use. According to Salenger, Sack, Kimmel & Bavaro’s mesh page, some patients may qualify for a lawsuit if they have complications requiring another operation. Even if you needed another operation, that statement doesn't establish your eligibility or show that your surgeon was negligent.
How long do I have to file a hernia surgery malpractice lawsuit?
Because deadlines differ by state, one filing period doesn't apply to every hernia repair. After checking our state pages, talk with a lawyer where you received care. When sharing the operation date, also explain when you learned about the suspected injury. Before you've gathered all your records, you can still ask about the deadline.
What should I bring to a hernia surgery malpractice consultation?
If you already have records, bring them with a short timeline. To help identify what was planned and performed, bring the operative report and consent documents, along with the discharge instructions. If you have later treatment records or symptom messages, add those. You can call a lawyer without sorting out every disagreement in the chart; tell them what you know and point out what you still need to have clarified.
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