subject: What is Medical Malpractice? [print this page] What is Medical Malpractice? What is Medical Malpractice?
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice or medical negligence can frequently result in the serious injury or death of a patient. In fact national statistics show that medical malpractice ends the lives of anywhere between 50,000 and 100,000 patients each year. There are many different examples of medical malpractice. Some of which are:
Misdiagnosing or failure of diagnosing a disease or medical condition
Delay in diagnosing or misdiagnosing a disease or medical condition
Failure to provide proper treatment for a medical condition
Needlessly delayed treatment of a diagnosed medical condition
Not securing patient consent
A surgical or anesthetic mistake during an operation
Medication administration errors
Medical negligence is when a patient has been harmed by the actions, or non-actions, of a doctor, nurse, hospital or clinic. It even includes psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, chiropractors, a nursing home staff and other medical providers. Medical negligence cases are complicated. They involve integrating law, medicine, and science and can be hard to contest and prove. To prove a case of medical negligence a person has to show first that a health-care provider acted negligently. After that a patient has to show that an injury was sustained. And thirdly it must be shown that they act of negligence played a large part in causing the injury or damage to the patient. To prove negligence another doctor or health care provider must testify that the care given was not up to the standards of the medical community. Medical malpractice cases are often defended rigorously and are very complicated to begin with. Because of this it is important to collect information early and that a victim of medical malpractice works with a personal injury attorney that they are familiar with and trust to handle their case.
Medical Malpractice Requires Help From Qualified Attorneys
Once again, medical negligence cases are complex procedures and victims of medical negligence must have an attorney who is experienced in these types of cases. Victims of medical negligence frequently do not have a vast amount of resources to directly take on large medical corporations. There are personal injury attorneys who know this and will try to help keep costs low. Some attorneys will only accept payment if a victim of medical negligence is able to make a successful monetary recovery from the negligent party. If a lawyer does this, you know that they believe in your claim and will work as hard as possible to make sure that you receive a settlement out of the negligent party.
If you, or a loved one, have been a victim of medical malpractice or medical negligence you should act as soon as possilbe as there may only be a small window of time in which you can legally act. Contact a personal injury attorney right away to know your rights and what compensation you are entitled to.
