Medical Malpractice - A Menace To Be Handled With Alacrity!

People who visit hospitals frequently for one or the other bodily ailment are often victims of medical malpractice

. Cases of negligence by doctors, nurses, and other medical staff that involves failure of diagnosing, treating illnesses and even delay in administering medicines to patients are signs of malpractice.

Officially, it is called professional negligence by healthcare specialists where care that digresses from accepted standards results in further injury or death of the patient. Medical malpractice is more common than is realized; a recent study in the US concludes an average of 195,000 deaths/year (2000-2002) were due to preventable medical errors.

Medical professionals maintain a liability insurance to reduce risks and costs of claims or lawsuits based on medical malpractice. Claims of malpractice by doctors etc. are difficult to produce as the time needed to research hospital records, following rules and regulations is very lengthy. Proving that the harm caused was purely accidental or contrived marks the difference between holding an individual or the institution culpable. Furthermore, proofs and testimony required to validate claims that the injury occurred or was aggravated due to negligence are not easy to procure.

There is a limited time period during which a malpractice lawsuit can be filed. These limits are set by statute in common legal systems and are referred to as ''prescriptive periods''. A bigger problem occurs if the act of malpractice leads to harmful complications many years into the future after the first inclination took place.

The more common medical malpractice lawsuits involve:

1.Delay in treatment: When the emergency room staff refuse or take inordinately long to do so, they can be held responsible for resulting damages.

2.Failure of/wrongful diagnosis: Doctors can be held liable if they fail to diagnose an illness or prescribe the wrong treatment/medicines that worsen or prolong the illness.

3.Improper treatment: Incorrect handling of injuries and/or the wrong medicinal care may result in aggravating the injury, development of harmful allergies etc.

4.Surgical mistakes: Arising from messing the operation or surgical equipment being left inside the patient and other practices that endanger the patient's life.

5.Defective medical devise: Further harm, injury or medical complications due to being prescribed or given a defective unit of medical equipment makes the healthcare official who of the patient guilty of medical malpractice.

6.Pharmaceutical errors i.e. harmful mixing of two medical drugs, selling expired drugs or vaccinations and wrongful deaths due to negligent medical care.

These are some of the common patient complaints but malpractice can range from minor

inconsistencies to invasive surgical errors. Finally, it is in the judgment of the victim of medical negligence to come forward to report it. Sometimes, the patients do not file the suits fearing either embarrassment or the expense involved in litigation.

Lawyers specializing in malpractice claims are the imperative option for such patients as they have the skills and experience necessary to prove the medical professional acted

irresponsibly. They will also help the victim or the victim's family in matters of accurate

monetary settlement of the suit while making sure the latter's rights is protected.

by: George Turner

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