Common Medical Malpractice Cases and How to Handle Them

Sometimes healthcare professionals make deliberate or unintentional mistakes in their practice, and a case may be filed either way. These mistakes may result in the temporary or permanent defection of patients. You could also make a case out of malpractice against the healthcare facility or the specific healthcare professional handling your treatment. You should consider getting an experienced injury attorney to represent you in a medical malpractice case.

Birth Injury

Many people list being present for the birth of their first child among their most treasured memories. Negligence on the part of labor and delivery providers can have disastrous effects on the mother and her child. As much as parents-to-be can prepare for the arrival of their new bundle of joy, there is one thing they just cannot prepare for a birth injury brought on by medical malpractice. Birth injuries can be fatal for both the mother and the child. Injuries at birth may result from the following types of malpractice:
- Inadequate prenatal care services provided.
- Serious complications not being diagnosed.
- Accidentally injuring the brachial plexus or cerebral cortex by improper use of an assistive device.
- Carrying out a cesarean section when it is not essential.

Making an Emergency C-section Failure

Anesthesia mistakes are caused by a lack of fetal and maternal monitoring during childbirth A birth injury might cause a baby to need expensive medical treatment for the rest of his or her life, costing hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions, throughout that care. If your child was injured at birth, you likely want those responsible for the injury to face the consequences of their negligence. Poor medical treatment has resulted in harm to certain infants. When that occurs, it's important to work with personal injury attorneys who specialize in medical malpractice cases. You may be eligible for financial compensation to help cover the costs of your child's injury.

Diagnoses That Delayed

A common cause of diagnostic delays is incorrect initial testing. Mistakenly diagnosing the patient with another condition or claiming the patient does not have a medical issue are common causes of diagnostic delays in malpractice lawsuits. Despite ultimately receiving a correct diagnosis, the patient's health may worsen from a lack of timely, adequate care. When a doctor's initial diagnostic assessment of a patient falls below the level of care expected of other doctors in a comparable position, a diagnosis delay could constitute medical malpractice. Malpractice may occur, for instance, if a doctor fails to properly conduct a diagnostic test or correctly interpret information on imaging scans, and the patient suffers as a result.

Failure to care for a patient when time is of the essence may lead you to be penalized heavily, up to millions of dollars. For instance, if a patient is brought in bleeding heavily and you fail to care for the patient and the result in death, the medical professionals are held liable in that case. If you have a good lawyer, you will be compensated for your loved one.

Misdiagnoses

A prominent form of medical carelessness that leads to malpractice claims is a wrong diagnosis. It is called a misdiagnosis when a doctor gives the wrong diagnosis or gives up on figuring out what's wrong with a patient altogether. When a patient's condition deteriorates because they were not given the appropriate therapy for their true ailment due to a misdiagnosis, this can be considered medical malpractice. Malpractice also occurs when a patient is harmed by receiving therapy for an illness for which they do not meet the criteria. There will be cases where a wrong diagnosis does not constitute malpractice, but this is not always the case. Malpractice occurs when a doctor causes a patient harm by failing to deliver the standard of care that another doctor with equivalent training and experience would provide under the same or similar circumstances. To win a medical malpractice case, you must demonstrate that the defendant's carelessness directly resulted in the plaintiff's injuries. You need to speak with a lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice because these are intricate and technical areas of the law.

Failure to Exercise Reasonable Care in Surgery

When surgeons make mistakes, patients may suffer lifelong damage that compromises their quality of life. Consent forms signed before surgery do not prevent patients or their families from filing malpractice claims. Some surgical errors could be considered medical malpractice, and they could include the following:

- Botched operations
- Medical error involving the wrong patient
- Making a wrong turn during surgery
- Surgical errors that cause harm to nerves, tissues, or organs
- Undergoing surgical procedures that aren't essential
- Making use of non-sterile surgical equipment
- Having items left inside a patient
- Negligent or overzealous anesthetic administration
- Refusing to follow up with patients after treatment

Badly Made Medical Equipment

Injuries can be caused by medical equipment that fails to work properly in some situations. Patients can be seriously harmed or even killed if they are given a defective medical gadget. Some patients, for instance, may experience organ perforations due to improperly constructed medical devices. In still other cases, a malfunctioning device may actually make the patient's condition worse by failing to deliver the expected advantages. Patient harm may occur long before a problem with medical equipment is identified. However, liability for damages could attach to the maker if they knew or should have known about the flaw.

Defendants in a product liability action cannot be held legally accountable until culpability is established. If you want to win such a case, you have to find the flaw first. Imperfections can occur at any stage of production or distribution. They can occur when there is an oversight in the planning or production phases. When a device wears out and hurts someone, that counts as well.

Treatment Negligence

A patient fails to receive appropriate treatment even when they have been diagnosed correctly. This may happen when the doctors have too many patients they are attending to at once. Lack of timely treatment may result in a situation worsening over time. However, for you to win a case of treatment negligence, you must prove that the doctors actually neglected to treat you or discharged you too early because they are giving passive services in the health facility. Being overwhelmed may make doctors lack diligence in their work which should not be the case.

It is good knowledge to understand that you can sue doctors and hospitals if you find that you received the bare minimum services that led to defects, lifelong disabilities or even the death of a loved one. You may seek a seat with the hospital first, but when you feel their decision or compensation is insufficient, you may seek the court's help. Compensation obtained legally may be substantial enough to care for you and your loved one for a lifetime because the hospitals may only offer small sums of money. A malpractice case will help the healthcare facility improve its diligence when handling patients.

Nanny to Mommy