The 10 Scariest Things About Malpractice Law

How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

Medical malpractice cases can be complex. Fortunately, an experienced attorney can help you understand your legal rights and navigate through this complicated process.

To file a malpractice claim, you must prove that your doctor or a healthcare professional violated their obligation of care to you. The breach could have resulted in an adverse legal result for you, like an unfavorable outcome for your medical treatment or financial loss.

Birth defects

The excitement parents feel at the birth of their baby is unmatched. However, it's also a time when medical concerns may arise. Birth defects like cleft lip and missing limbs and congenital heart disease and muscular dystrophy may be a cause for concern. If a medical professional's negligence during pregnancy or delivery resulted in these conditions, you may have a valid malpractice claim.

Birth defects can occur for many reasons, including exposure to prescription medicines or environmental factors that cause toxic chemicals and prenatal care issues. The duty of a doctor to ensure the health of the pregnant fetus and mother includes conducting appropriate screening tests and detecting and treating any abnormalities that occur during pregnancy.

Medical experts must determine whether a doctor's negligence in diagnosing or treating the condition was negligent and led to serious injury. To prove negligence, an expert must examine the standard of care that a physician would have adhered to in the same circumstances and prove that the doctor deviated from that standard and consequently caused the injury or death.

It is important to speak to any eyewitnesses, and also collect evidence at the site of the accident. This can include hospital witnesses as well as other patients, their families nurses, and many more. It is also important to take photographs of the injuries your child sustained to show how severe they are.

Maternal deaths

Every year, between 700 and 900 women die due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth. That's a staggering number especially in a third-world country like the United States. A recent report by USA Today suggests many of the deaths could have been prevented by better hospital care.

The causes of maternal deaths include obstetric emergencies that include severe bleeding during delivery or a hemorrhage afterward or pre-existing conditions such as diabetes and obesity that affect the birth of a child and pregnancy. However doctors also have a responsibility to observe and treat warning signs, including high blood pressure, which can cause the deadly condition known as preeclampsia. Preeclampsia may cause premature separation of the placenta, seizures and the life-threatening condition known as HELLP syndrome.

Obstetrics-related medical malpractice cases involving obstetrics and gynecology are among the most frequent types of lawsuits filed in the United States. In a malpractice suit, the plaintiff must prove that a healthcare provider violated a recognized standard of care that led to the plaintiff to be injured or die. The legal community defines the standards of care, and it varies from one state to the next. Despite the numerous malpractice claims, the majority settle without ever going to trial. A settlement is often reached through direct negotiation between the parties, and sometimes with the assistance of an impartial mediator (often a retired judge or attorney). Medical malpractice lawyer lawsuits are not the only way to disqualify a doctor from practicing immediately.

Injuries as a result of surgery

Even though medical advancements have drastically decreased the chance of adverse results, they can occur. If they do, they usually cause serious injuries. These injuries aren't just uncomfortable and painful, but they can cause costly corrective surgeries, expensive medical expenses, extended recovery times, or even death.

Some surgical errors are not negligence. To establish a case, it must be shown that a healthcare professional did not follow the standard of care in an operation and this failure caused injury. Injuries that can be considered medical malpractice are:

Surgery performed on the wrong site, where the surgeon performs surgery on a body part that is different than what was planned leaving a sponge, scalpel or any other piece of equipment inside the patient, puncturing or nicking a nerve or organ, causing infections because of inadequately cleaned and sanitized equipment and equipment, etc.

A lawsuit based on a surgical error is a complex matter therefore, you must seek the advice of an experienced lawyer who is familiar with medical malpractice. It's also important to document any injuries you suffer including photographs, and make notes of any information you believe might be relevant to your case. A lawsuit for a surgical error can take several years to settle, but it's worth it if you believe your doctor made a error that resulted in injury. This is particularly true if you sustained severe injuries that significantly interfere with your life quality.

Wrongful death

Losing a loved one be extremely stressful. However, if the death is caused by someone else's negligence it can be incredibly painful. In accordance with state law, you may be able file a lawsuit against the other party to collect damages.

A wrongful death case is different than a medical malpractice case because it is a matter of life instead of their health. This is why the requirements for proof are higher and must be proved beyond the reasonable doubt that the loved person's death was caused by an individual's negligence.

Joan's husband, for example was killed by a lung cancer that was not seen by an x-ray. The cause of his death was the doctor's failure to examine his patient's symptoms and perform an MRI when the patient was having trouble breathing. The delay in treatment caused the tumor to expand irreparably.

In this situation the family members of the patient may bring a wrongful-death claim against the doctor as well as the hospital. The type of damages you are able to claim will depend on the laws in your state, similar to a medical negligence case. They can cover economic and non-economic damages like funeral costs, loss of consortium, and discomfort and pain prior to the death of the victim. Punitive damages may be sought in wrongful death claims. This amount isn't covered in every instance, but it's an option if the death of the victim was especially egregious or a result of multiple mistakes.