Thank you to our friends at >Cohen and Cohen for this background information on medical malpractice.
What Medical Malpractice Looks Like
Medical malpractice is a serious occurrence that not many people may know about. When a doctor, nurse, hospital, or medical professional harms a patient, they could be liable for the suffering caused. Medical malpractice can happen through an oversight, mistake, or outright negligence. This is why a medical malpractice lawyer strongly encourages people to also be their own doctor, and when something doesn't seem right, to speak up or ask questions. There is also no harm in getting a second opinion from another doctor or facility entirely if you want confirmation that your diagnosis or care plan is correct. Here is more information about what medical malpractice looks like, you can identify it quickly if it happens to you.
To have grounds for filing a medical malpractice claim, there are certain elements that must apply to the situation. As a team member from Cohen & Cohen explains, an unfavorable health outcome or diagnosis in itself is not automatically deemed malpractice. Firstly, there must have been a violation in the standard of care. There are standards expected and recognized within the medical community and by law that helps protect patients from malpractice. A patient has the right to anticipate that their treating doctor will deliver care that meets these standards. If it is concluded that a standard of care was not met and this led to a patient's worsened condition, negligence could be established. Secondly, an injury or illness must have been caused due to this negligence. Furthermore, the injury caused must have resulted in quantifiable damages.
Medical malpractice can take on limitless forms, however, there are some examples that tend to be common among lawsuits. A doctor may have failed to diagnose someone based on their presented symptoms, offered a delayed diagnosis in which an unreasonable amount of time went by (and potentially made the patient worse), or concluded a misdiagnosis. Other ways a doctor may commit malpractice is by suggesting unnecessary surgery, misreading lab results, failing to order diagnostics, performing surgical errors, improperly using anesthesia, not prescribing the right medication or dosage, disregarding patient history, or poor aftercare/follow-up.
If you suspect that your doctor or another healthcare professional had made a mistake which led to your worsened condition, then now is the time to take action. Medical malpractice is a serious occurrence that can change the path of someone's life forever. Those who have lost their lives due to medical malpractice can be honored by surviving loved ones filing legal action on their behalf. What you can do next is meet with a lawyer who is experienced in handling medical malpractices. Once a lawyer has learned more about the details of the malpractice in question, they can then advise how to proceed. If you have grounds for a case, then your lawyer is likely to get started working for your behalf immediately by gathering evidence, investigating, speaking with witnesses, and more. If you have a feeling something wasn't right with your care, follow that instinct and get help today.