Suffering from a major medical issue can be emotionally and physically devastating. You rely on your health care professionals to help you develop a plan to fight your illness. However, what if there is a misdiagnosis? A misdiagnosis can lead to a worsened condition. If this happens you may want to learn more about your legal options including pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Defining medical malpractice
Our health care professionals have a duty to provide a certain standard of care. If they deviate from this standard of care, and the patient suffers harm due to this, the health care professionals may be liable. To be liable the physician must fail to provide a certain standard of care. In addition, the patient must suffer an injury as a result of the negligent care. Finally, the damage must have consequences in the form of further injury or harm.
Types of medical errors
Medical errors come in all varieties. Some of the most common categories include:
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to diagnose
- Wrong-site surgery
- Unnecessary surgery
- Premature discharge
- Incorrect testing
- Failure to act on test results
- Leaving things inside the body following surgery
- Hospital acquired infections
- Pressure ulcers.
These are only some types of medical errors that could occur due to medical malpractice; there are others, and there are some cases that combine multiple categories.
Medical malpractice lawsuits
In a medical malpractice lawsuit, the patient will bring a claim against the medical professional. This could be a doctor or any other medical provider. To prevail the patient must show that the health care provider owed them a duty of care, which was breached. The breach must have caused harm and significant damages must have resulted from the harm. If the patient prevails, they may be compensated for the damages they suffered due to the medical malpractice. A medical malpractice lawsuit may be a way to pursue this compensation.