A doctor makes a mistake, and it costs you dearly. You may have injuries, recurring health problems, and numerous other complications. Other times, your loved one might have lost their life because of the doctor’s mistake. When this happens, nothing can make the devastating situation right.
What you can do, though, is seek legal support and compensation for your losses. The critical question is, “Do I have a case for medical malpractice?” While you may believe you have a case if you know the doctor made a mistake, medical malpractice is one of the most challenging areas of the law.
While the law protects victims of negligence, doctors are human and do make mistakes. Not every mistake constitutes medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice requires reckless behavior that leads to a mistake or decision that other similar doctors would not have made. Because of this legal complexity, always seek the legal guidance of a medical malpractice attorney who can evaluate whether you have a case and, if so, help you obtain the compensation you deserve.
To learn where you may stand, consider the following information. However, the only way to know if you have a case is to seek an attorney’s guidance and legal assessment. You can seek a free initial consultation to discuss your situation and legal rights.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
To determine if you have a case, you need a lawyer who understands and can identify medical malpractice.
Most doctors do all they can to ensure their patients receive the best care possible – making decisions they believe will help a person. However, mistakes or even misconduct can occur.
A medical malpractice claim requires a doctor or another medical professional to act negligently.
That means the:
- They breached the medical standard of care for the situation
- The breach directly caused injury to the patient or their family member
Determining and proving when medical negligence occurs is often the hard part of this process. In its simplest form, negligence occurs when a doctor strays from what a prudent medical professional should do in the same situation. That is, should another doctor or facility make the same decision?
To determine this, the court must consider the standard level of care for that individual situation and the professionals themselves. Just like lawyers, doctors have the ethical duty to uphold the medical standard of care.
Did the medical professional treat this person like another provider with a similar background and experience under the same circumstances?
The court must consider if a doctor within the same practice area or specialty might provide the same recommended care for a person with the same symptoms, conditions, age, life circumstances, and other factors.
If another doctor or provider would offer the same type of treatment, or come to the same decision or diagnosis, then a mistake may not lead to a medical malpractice claim. On the other hand, if the doctor did something negligent and did not act as other doctors should regarding a specific patient, a successful medical malpractice claim may result.
You want to know you have a valid claim before you move forward with any legal action as complex and challenging as medical malpractice. Discuss what happened with a medical malpractice attorney immediately.
Examples of Medical Malpractice
Every possible medical malpractice case differs.
Here are some situations in which a doctor may engage in negligence and affect a person’s quality of life in some way, leading to loss:
- They failed to diagnose a condition that other doctors should have
- They delayed the diagnosis for some reason, which led to a worsening outcome
- They did not obtain necessary informed consent before treating the patient
- They made the wrong diagnosis based on the factors presented
- They made some mistake during the birthing process, causing injury to the child or mother
- They did not properly order, read, or interpret an X-ray, lab result, or another diagnostic test
- An HMO acted in a manner that puts someone at risk
- A medical provider prescribed the wrong medication
- A nurse gave the wrong medication to the patient
- A pharmacist handed out the wrong medication for a prescription
- A doctor’s error during a surgical procedure led to nerve damage or spinal cord injury
- A medical device caused harm or failed to work as it should
- Nursing home aides or hospital nurses act in an abusive manner
- The nursing home fails to provide a patient with medication or the proper medication
There are many instances in which a person may suffer at the hands of a doctor’s mistake. When this happens, the results can lead to long-term harm, both financially and related to pain and suffering. It puts an unnecessary and preventable strain on patients and might lead to irreversible complications. Sometimes, the harm is fatal.
You have the right to legal relief when you suffer an avoidable medical injury. This relief comes in the form of monetary compensation for your losses.
When Can You File a Medical Malpractice Case?
The first step of the process is identifying you have a medical malpractice case. Be sure to act quickly if you believe you do and have an attorney confirm your beliefs. In most states, a medical malpractice statute of limitations gives you just two years to file a complaint in civil court.
Your attorney knows about the statute of limitations in your state and can file the claim right away when necessary. There are also notice requirements that many injured patients must meet before they can file a lawsuit, so you want to leave enough time to take the proper action.
Even if two years seems far off, quickly acting is essential. The sooner you pursue a medical malpractice case, the better.
Acting quickly will:
- Help your lawyer gather and preserve evidence
- Provide an opportunity for your attorney to provide the required notice and file insurance claims
- Allow time to negotiate a fair settlement for you whenever possible
- Help you calculate all of your losses, including some of your long-term losses
If you wonder when you should start the process of a medical malpractice case, the answer is now.
What if You Didn’t Know About The Error?
One of the exceptions to this statute of limitations is the discovery rule. This applies to situations when you did not know you suffered an injury right away, or you may not know that your injury stemmed from an error your doctor made.
For example, you may discover a year later that the doctor made a mistake during your surgery that required additional hospitalization and procedures. This may come to light after another doctor reviews your medical records and complications. Your statute of limitations will begin when you discover the harm you suffered.
In this situation, there is still a statute of repose in place. While your statute of limitations might be longer than two years from the date of the malpractice, there is still a limit on how long you have to take legal action. For example, a statute of repose might be ten years. If you discover your injury after ten years, you cannot seek compensation.
Outside of this, other exceptions and timelines may apply. For example, suppose a person discovers that a medical provider left a foreign object in their body after a procedure. In that case, they have two years from discovering that foreign object to take legal action, even if that is beyond the other limitations.
In situations where a claimant was under age 18 when the initial injury occurred, the victim might have until their 20th birthday to take action, even if the incident occurred many years before.
If a malpractice claim involves the failure to inform a patient about medical tests, a plaintiff may enjoy an extended statute of limitations. This begins two years from the discovery of the non-communicated test result or from when the patient should have discovered the failure.
Another exception to this rule occurs when there is a death. When a person dies directly from a medical malpractice incident, the statute of limitations to file a wrongful death claim is different in many states.
Your attorney will know the time limits in your state and whether any exceptions apply to your case.
How to Know If You Should Pursue Medical Malpractice
You’re struggling with your health. You don’t know what’s next. Yet, you don’t know if you can file a claim for medical malpractice. What should you do? Always consult a medical malpractice attorney who will consider the following.
Did The Treatment Your Doctor Provided Not Work?
When treatment does not seem to work, you might have received the wrong diagnosis or may be getting the wrong treatment. If you suffered preventable complications, discuss a possible failure to diagnose claim with your attorney.
Your Doctor Did Not Follow Up or Provide Proper Care to You
Sometimes, a doctor may not pay enough attention to what you say to them. For example, you may tell them how you feel, but they do not value that information or may brush you off. This might delay treatment or they may wrongfully discharge you from the hospital.
You Learn of a Surgical Error
Many times, surgical errors are the result of rushed or tired doctors or mistakes in communication. Some patients know immediately that something is wrong following surgery. They might have life-threatening complications that keep them in the hospital and require significant medical care. Others might not realize surgical errors until much later. In either situation, discuss the matter with your lawyer.
Another Doctor Identifies That Something Went Wrong
In some situations, another medical provider may determine you did not receive the proper care or that your former doctor made a mistake. If your condition worsens and you seek a second opinion, the new medical professional might diagnose a condition the first doctor clearly missed.
Your Loved One Died
A loved one may die in a medical setting, but not always due to medical malpractice. However, if doctors expected them to recover and survive, and that did not occur, you may want a lawyer to investigate what went wrong. A medical malpractice attorney can help your family determine whether malpractice played a role.
Complications Arose During a Procedure
It is not always the surgeon that makes a mistake during surgery. For example, an anesthesiologist may fail to provide the necessary care, or they may not review a patient’s allergies, and injuries occur. If you woke up during a procedure or reacted badly to anesthesia, you might have a malpractice claim.
You Just Don’t Understand What’s Happening and Why Care Is Failing
Perhaps you researched your treatment options, received some insight into what to expect, and did everything your doctor told you – and things still went wrong. If you feel uneasy about complications or your inability to recover in any way, reach out to a medical malpractice attorney. They will investigate what happened and determine if negligence played a role.
Getting Legal Advice and Guidance Is Essential
Jacob D. Lawrence, Medical Malpractice Lawyer
The best way to find out if you have a medical malpractice case is to speak to an experienced personal injury attorney. Doing so will allow them to review your case before diving in to get more information and identify your next move. An initial consultation is free, so you have nothing to lose.