Medical Malpractice Lawyers
When people think of what exemplifies medical malpractice, they often picture egregious mistakes that take place in an operating room. Part of the reason for this commonly oversimplified notion about malpractice is because these types of stories are the ones that people hear about on the news or word of mouth. For the most part, the reason that they captured so much attention was because they were shocking and unusual incidents.
However, medical malpractice can include a lot more situations than just a surgical error. Many of the most common types of claims tend to be less jaw-dropping than what you may hear about in news stories. Nevertheless, they may cause the patients serious injury, disability, pain, or even death. Here are a few other types of common claims besides procedural error.
Failure to Diagnose
People rely on their doctors to identify issues that are causing them discomfort or putting their health on peril. If a diagnosing physician fails to accurately diagnose a condition because he or she did not perform tests or draw conclusions that a physician should have, a patient can suffer considerably. The longer it takes to diagnose a condition, the more difficult it can be to treat.
Medication Errors
Prescribing medications that cause patients harm is an extremely common type of malpractice. In some instances, doctors fail to recognize a well-documented likelihood of reaction with another medication that a patient is taking. Also, prescribing the wrong dosage of a medication could have life-threatening side effects.
Failure to Warn
Physicians must warn patients of the possible ways in which a certain course of treatment can negatively affect them. Without appropriate warning, people cannot reasonably consent to treatment because they do not have an adequate understanding of all of the risks involved.
Doctors are held to a very high duty of care, and any breach of this duty can result in a claim for medical malpractice. It is also worth noting that malpractice claims can apply to more treatment providers than doctors. Negligence on behalf of a physician’s assistant, nurse, or physical therapist could be the basis of a claim for malpractice. Any breach of the duty care providers must uphold should be taken very seriously and may justify taking legal action.
In addition to giving a malpractice victim the compensation that they need to address their injuries, pursuing a claim against a provider may help prevent similar types of malpractice from hurting other people in the future. A medical malpractice lawyer can help with this. Medical malpractice lawyers from a law firm like Hall Justice help clients understand whether they have a valid claim and the likelihood of winning in court.
