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Medical Malpractice Law | Schonberg Law Offices
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Medical Malpractice Law: What You Need to Know
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider, such as a doctor, nurse, or other hospital staff member, causes patient injury due to negligence or lack of proper care.
Read on to learn more about medical malpractice law, including medical malpractice types, when a medical error is considered medical malpractice, and more.
Medical Malpractice Types Many types of medical malpractice lead to patient harm.
Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, and late diagnosis are all common forms of medical malpractice. When a doctor fails to diagnose a potentially deadly disease, such as cancer or a serious heart problem, in a timely manner, the patient is deprived of their ability to begin treating the disease in its early stages before it progresses to a more advanced stage.
Medication Errors There are two main types of prescription medication errors: errors made when prescribing medication and medication administration mistakes. Prescribing errors occur when a doctor does not prescribe the right medication dosage; prescribes the wrong medication; or prescribes several medications known to interact with each other.
Medication administration mistakes typically occur when healthcare facility nurses mix up patient medications and administer the wrong medication to the wrong patient, forget to administer important medication dosages at the right times, or administer the wrong medication dosages. Surgical or Anesthesia Errors
Surgical errors that constitute medical malpractice can vary greatly. However, just a few potential surgical errors include harming another organ in the body when operating; performing an operation on the wrong part of a patient's organ or body; or leaving foreign items, such as medical instruments or gauze, inside of the patient's body when suturing them back up after surgery.
Anesthesia errors occur when an anesthesiologist administers the wrong anesthesia or dosage to a patient or fails to monitor the patient's vital signs properly while they are under anesthesia.
Failure to Treat Failure to treat occurs when a physician provides a patient the right disease or health problem diagnosis but then fails to treat it properly. Improper treatment may include not prescribing a medication that would likely improve or halt the course of the disease or not recommending procedures and other follow-up care that could improve the disease greatly.
Mandatory Four Elements of a Medical Malpractice Claim
According to the law, not all medical errors are considered medical malpractice. For a medical error to be considered a form of medical malpractice, a patient and their attorney must prove the mandatory four elements of a medical malpractice claim, which include:
If you and your attorney can prove that your claim meets all four criteria for a medical malpractice claim, then the doctor or health facility responsible for the medical error may offer to settle out-of-court instead of going to trial.
Everyone should understand how simple medical errors differ from medical malpractice. If you suspect that you or a loved one are a victim of medical malpractice, then contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Schonberg Law Offices for expert legal representation today.
Read on to learn more about medical malpractice law, including medical malpractice types, when a medical error is considered medical malpractice, and more.
Medical Malpractice Types Many types of medical malpractice lead to patient harm.
Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, and late diagnosis are all common forms of medical malpractice. When a doctor fails to diagnose a potentially deadly disease, such as cancer or a serious heart problem, in a timely manner, the patient is deprived of their ability to begin treating the disease in its early stages before it progresses to a more advanced stage.
Medication Errors There are two main types of prescription medication errors: errors made when prescribing medication and medication administration mistakes. Prescribing errors occur when a doctor does not prescribe the right medication dosage; prescribes the wrong medication; or prescribes several medications known to interact with each other.
Medication administration mistakes typically occur when healthcare facility nurses mix up patient medications and administer the wrong medication to the wrong patient, forget to administer important medication dosages at the right times, or administer the wrong medication dosages. Surgical or Anesthesia Errors
Surgical errors that constitute medical malpractice can vary greatly. However, just a few potential surgical errors include harming another organ in the body when operating; performing an operation on the wrong part of a patient's organ or body; or leaving foreign items, such as medical instruments or gauze, inside of the patient's body when suturing them back up after surgery.
Anesthesia errors occur when an anesthesiologist administers the wrong anesthesia or dosage to a patient or fails to monitor the patient's vital signs properly while they are under anesthesia.
Failure to Treat Failure to treat occurs when a physician provides a patient the right disease or health problem diagnosis but then fails to treat it properly. Improper treatment may include not prescribing a medication that would likely improve or halt the course of the disease or not recommending procedures and other follow-up care that could improve the disease greatly.
Mandatory Four Elements of a Medical Malpractice Claim
According to the law, not all medical errors are considered medical malpractice. For a medical error to be considered a form of medical malpractice, a patient and their attorney must prove the mandatory four elements of a medical malpractice claim, which include:
- The doctor's legal duty to provide the patient care and treatment . A physician or health care facility has legal duty to care for a patient after a patient/physician relationship has been established or a patient is admitted into the healthcare facility.
- A medical professional's failure to adhere to standards of care of the profession . Failure to adhere to the accepted standard of care occurs when a physician fails to treat a patient in a way that another reasonable professional in their field of medicine would have.
- The medical mistake made injured the patient . No medical error is considered medical malpractice unless the error injured the patient and the link between the error and the injury can be proven.
- The medical malpractice event is the cause of all damages sought . Damages sought in the medical malpractice lawsuit, such as reimbursement of medical bills, payment for missed work time, and compensation for pain and suffering, must all be linked to the medical malpractice event.
If you and your attorney can prove that your claim meets all four criteria for a medical malpractice claim, then the doctor or health facility responsible for the medical error may offer to settle out-of-court instead of going to trial.
Everyone should understand how simple medical errors differ from medical malpractice. If you suspect that you or a loved one are a victim of medical malpractice, then contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Schonberg Law Offices for expert legal representation today.
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