There might come a time in your life when you might ask yourself whether or not you can sue a doctor for their wrong diagnosis. Now, the short answer to this question is: Yes, you can. But – it is not as easy as you might think because you will need enough evidence to prove this in court.
What is Medical Malpractice?
In simpler words, medical malpractice refers to a situation where a doctor might have deviated from the standard expectations of medical practice. They might have knowingly or unknowingly breached the set standards of healthcare and done things that an otherwise doctor would never do.
Typically, when medical malpractice occurs, the healthcare professional does something that is not aligned with the required level of care that the patient requires. Subsequently, the patient can sustain serious harm due to the problems, such as a delayed diagnosis or a misdiagnosis.
What Causes Negligence?
You should know that sometimes medical negligence is caused by the doctor’s lack of knowledge or their genuine ignorance to take the required steps for their patient’s treatment. Here is the list of the different types of medical negligence:
- Surgical mistakes
- Bedsores
- Medication errors
- Cancer misdiagnosis
- Injuries at the time of birth
- Wrong treatment plan
- Anesthesia issues
- Dental mistakes
It is important to mention here that all surgeries carry some risks, which is why it would be wrong to categorize bad outcomes as medical negligence. Why, you might ask> Well, the thing is that even the best doctors or surgeons cannot treat everything, which is why if things don’t go as expected, you cannot automatically label them as medical negligence.
On that note, if you feel like that a surgery that went wrong was indeed caused by medical negligence, the best thing you can do is to get in touch with the best medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who, with the help of his team of medical experts can then determine whether or not yours is a case of bad outcome or medical negligence.
Surgical Errors That Make A Strong Case
Speaking of surgical errors, you should know that surgical errors are not related to bad outcomes. Essentially, surgical errors are preventable mistakes that can occur during surgery. The important word that we are emphasizing is “preventable.”
Such mistakes can range widely, such as operating on the wrong person or the wrong body part. This aspect can also include the surgeon’s failure to provide the patient with standard post-surgery care. Sometimes, this fault falls on the nurses on duty.
Apart from these, unsanitary conditions might cause infections.
When to Actually Sue Your Doctor?
So, the important question is when you can actually sue your doctor. You can sue a doctor when they get your illness wrong. This aspect is also known as misdiagnosis, which is an essential part of the legal category, which is known as medical malpractice.
On that note, there are several types of misdiagnosis that you should know about before you approach the best medical malpractice lawyers and ask them for their legal expertise. Check out the below-given list of typical examples of medical malpractice resulting from misdiagnosis:
- Lupus: Often misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue.
- Lyme Disease: Often misdiagnosed as the flu or depression.
- Asthma: Medical professionals sometimes misdiagnosed bronchitis as bronchitis.
- Parkinson’s Disease: Some doctors have misdiagnosed this illness as stroke, stress, or Alzheimer’s.
Incorrect Treatment of Medical Health Issues
When a doctor provides the wrong medical treatment to a patient, the patient is at a high risk of dealing with fatal consequences. This aspect is particularly true for the treatment of crucial illnesses or injuries. This aspect, however, also applies to medical professionals who fail to provide the right and expected treatment for the health condition of a patient.
Birth Injuries
When a doctor injures an infant at the time of their birth, it falls in the category of medical malpractice and negligence. A birth injury is an occurrence where a healthcare professional technician or nurse might make an error during labor, pregnancy, or delivery.
Common types of baby birth injuries include the following:
- Intraventricular hemorrhage
- Brain damage
- Fetal demise
New Mothers and Medical Negligence
The mother can be a victim of medical negligence as well, which can include the following:
- Childbirth tears
- Perineal tears
- Episiotomies
- Failure to assess fetal movements
- Failure to assess signs of abnormalities
- Failure to assess signs of distress
Speaking of birth and mother’s health, there are also cases that are linked with birth trauma, such as experiencing severe physical and emotional pain during and post-birth. The mother might feel unsupported by the medical staff around here.
After birth, often in the case of fetal demise, the mother might feel numb or guilty due to how things unfold that were beyond her control. No matter what the situation is, it is always in everyone’s best interest to consult with a professional lawyer who is an expert in medical negligence cases to rightfully determine whether or not they have a case of negligence to start with.
Cerebral Palsy
Another common type of baby birth injury is cerebral palsy, which can result when a newborn is deprived of the much-needed oxygen during the birth process.
Errors in Medical Prescription
Sometimes, a patient can experience medical malpractice that is linked to errors in prescribing and administering the right medication. When this happens, it is usually caused by the doctor’s wrong prescription of a drug or dosage. This way, doctors make the fatal mistake of providing the wrong medication to the wrong patients.
Sometimes, this mistake can prove fatal to the patient.
Bedsores – More Commonly Found in Nursing Homes
Another medical malpractice that is typically found in older people, especially the ones that are left at nursing homes, is bedsores. Now, bedsore refers to the condition that a patient might experience when they are left for too long in the same position or for too long.
Bedsores are a crucial sign of neglect or insufficient care. This kind of medical neglect is more commonly seen in hospitals and nursing homes.
