Being in a potential medical malpractice situation is upsetting and can be life-altering. In the midst of change, pain, turmoil, and confusion it can be difficult to identify whether your situation should be considered by the courts and if it’s time to take action. There are resources and lawyers who want to help you. If you are interested in investigating a medical event that could turn into a medical malpractice case, consider the following.
Qualifications to consider before calling a lawyer
The American Bar Association defines medical malpractice is negligence committed by a doctor, nurse, dentist, technician, pharmacist, hospital, or hospital worker. This health care provider’s performance must depart from a standard of practice of those with similar training and experience that results in the harm of a patient or patients to be considered malpractice. To simplify that further, the doctor’s care must have deviated from commonly accepted medical standards. For a lawsuit to be filed, this deviation must be confirmed by a qualified expert who will then grant your argument a certificate of merit.
Finding that a doctor departed from normal standards of medical practice is just the first half of identifying a medical malpractice case. The second, and perhaps the most important part, is that you think there is sufficient evidence to prove that the health care provider’s actions ultimately caused your injury or a loved one’s death. The qualified expert opinion will heavily consider if harm can be proven before a certificate of merit will be granted, providing you with a valid claim. If these criteria describe you or a family member’s situation, consider the following specific types of malpractice.
A quick look at the types of medical malpractice
There are a few common types of medical malpractice that include diagnosis errors, birth injuries, surgical errors, hospital, and emergency room malpractice, medication errors, and nursing home malpractice.
In cases where there has been a misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose, a healthcare provider has failed to or has incorrectly diagnosed a condition. This delays treatment to the patient, which can cause long-standing harm. Perhaps the most common form of negligence is seen in the diagnosis of breast and colon cancers.
Birth injuries due to malpractice occur when a delivery team doesn’t act in a timely manner, resulting in the physical harm or death of an infant. Often newborns die or experience significant brain damage from prolonged oxygen deprivation, which can be avoided with appropriately timed C-sections or the proper use of medical tools.
To build a case around medication errors, you will need proof that your doctor or pharmacist gave you the incorrect combination of drugs or the wrong medication for your condition. You may also have a case if you are negatively impacted by a medication’s side effects. A case can be made that your doctor didn’t adequately weigh the risks of your medication when he or she prescribed it, resulting in your harm.
A way forward
If your situation feels isolating and hopeless, remember there are people who want to bring you peace and justice. Doctors and institutions won’t want to admit their mistakes, so search for the best medical malpractice attorneys, like Miller and Zois Law Firm, in your area to fight for you. Miller and Zois Law Firm has years of experience and is dedicated to winning for their clients. Their attorneys will have won tens of millions of dollars, and promise not to charge clients unless they can recover money for you by winning the case. Many cases never make it to a jury and are settled confidentially. One strategy your attorney may use is to target the hospital instead of an individual doctor. Juries are more likely to side with you if the institution is questioned instead of the individual. No one wants to be a part of a medical malpractice case, but taking the steps to find the right attorney could get you the reparations you deserve.