When a doctor or medical professional fails to competently perform their responsibilities and the result is serious injury or death, this is considered medical malpractice.
Due to their nature, some common medical malpractice cases occur more frequently than others.
What is medical malpractice?
For medical malpractice to be established, you have to prove certain facts to a respected attorney who can then help you move forward with a case. This includes proving the following:
- You were being treated by the medical professional
- The medical professional was negligent
- Their negligence directly caused your injury
- Your injury has led to pain, anguish, loss of work, or piling medical bills
If you’re able to gather this evidence through medical bills, insurance documents, and income statements, and feel you have a solid case, finding a reputable attorney is essential to your success. They’ll guide you through gathering evidence, establishing whether you have a case, finding medical experts to support your claims, and working toward justice.
Do you believe you have a medical malpractice case? Read about the five most common medical malpractice cases, and discover how the experts at Grover Lewis Johnson use their experience and success in cases such as these to help you.
1. Incorrect diagnosis or delayed diagnosis
In a medical malpractice suit, your attorney would have to prove that the doctor strayed from the standards of care, which means your doctor did not provide the same level of care that other medical professionals would do for a patient in the same circumstances.
In cases of misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, if your doctor incorrectly diagnosed you or failed to diagnose you for a period of time, you would be missing out on valuable treatments for your condition. You also may have been prescribed incorrect treatment or testing. Both instances could result in serious harm or death.
With the help of a medical expert, your attorney would fight to prove what the doctor did wrong and how a competent doctor would have handled the situation, from proper diagnosis to treatment.
If another doctor, under the same circumstances, would have followed the standards of care and been able to properly treat you, the doctor who treated you may be liable for medical malpractice.
2. Failure to treat or incorrect treatment
If your doctor fails to treat you in a way that another competent doctor would have, this is another common type of medical malpractice. Similarly, if the doctor chose the appropriate treatment for you, but administered it incorrectly, this is also considered failure to treat a patient.
As with a misdiagnosis, your attorney would evaluate the standards of care, this time with a focus on treatments. Whether the doctor failed to treat you or failed to accurately select treatment, this can result in injury or death to the patient.
Had the doctor properly followed the standards of care, you would have received proper treatment from the start and no harm would have resulted.
Do I have a case?
3. Prescription drug and anesthesia errors
Medication errors can occur in several different ways. If a doctor prescribed you the wrong medication initially, administered it incorrectly, or failed to spot a harmful drug interaction, these are all examples of prescription drug errors that may result in a medical malpractice case.
Incorrect dosage is a common medication error, such as with anesthesia. Also, in a hospital setting, sometimes prescription drug errors also occur when the wrong medication is given to the wrong patient, resulting in injury or death to the patient.
4. Surgical errors
Patients know a certain level of risk exists for any type of surgery or procedure. However, taking the standards of care into account, negligence can occur during surgery or other procedures, which results in harm to the patient that leads to a medical malpractice case. This can include:
- Operating on the wrong body part
- Leaving surgical equipment inside the body
- Puncturing a blood vessel or organ
- Administering anesthesia incorrectly
- Injuring a nerve
Sometimes, the nursing staff or other medical professionals may be responsible for negligence in post-operative care. This includes using improper techniques leading to infection, not providing the patient with adequate care instructions, or administering the wrong medications.
5. Injuries during childbirth
What should be an exciting time for families sometimes turns tragic when medical professionals’ negligence during pregnancy or childbirth results in a birth injury. Birth injuries can include cuts, scrapes, and broken bones, paralysis in the arms or hands due to nerve damage, or cerebral palsy, and other disorders due to a brain injury.
While many of these injuries can be a result of environmental causes, a doctor should carefully examine the child after birth and be able to provide details of what occurred and when.
Based on what happened, you should be able to determine if a doctor’s negligence during birth resulted in your child’s injury. For example, if your doctor incorrectly used forceps on the baby causing injury, or if they did not perform a C-section when it was necessary, they caused unnecessary harm.
If there were signs of issues during pregnancy that were not discovered prior to birth, this also can be considered medical malpractice. Examples of this include failing to diagnose a medical condition the mother had, failing to identify birth defects, or failing to diagnose a disease the mother passed on to her baby.
Grover Lewis Johnson has experience in these common cases
If you believe you have a medical malpractice case, the first step is finding the right attorney with success and experience in similar cases. You need a fearless, compassionate attorney who will listen to, respect, and support you.
The Medical Malpractice Team at Grover Lewis Johnson is dedicated to maintaining open, honest communication and remaining accessible to its clients. Our team has proven success in these common medical malpractice cases and more.
Call us to schedule a free consultation so that we can review your case and provide you with honest feedback — guided by our 25 years of experience. You won’t pay any fees until we win your case.
We are genuinely interested in your situation. If your case has merit, we will work to continually exceed your expectations throughout the entire process. Whether reaching a settlement is best or we decide to take your case to trial, we work tirelessly to help you get what you deserve.
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