When a medical institution such as a hospital or a clinic, or a medical officer, doctor, or any medical professional causes harm or injury to a patient through negligence or omission, it is called medical malpractice. Medical malpractice entails injury caused due to misdiagnosis, errors in treatment, aftercare, or overall health management. The basis for medical negligence is the comparison of the standard of care between the medical professional that has allegedly caused an injury and another medical professional or institute under similar circumstances.
Although the highest standard of care is maintained in most medical practices, things do go unfortunately wrong because of how certain situations can become high-stakes in a medical set up – an example of such a situation would be the covid-19 pandemic and the plight of hospitals and medical professionals when the hospitals were overcrowded and many lost their lives.
What can be considered malpractice, you may ask? Here are a few examples –
- Failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis
- Improper aftercare
- Failure to procure patient medical history or ignoring it
- Unnecessary testing and surgery
- Improper administration of medication or the dosage of it
- Surgical errors or wrong-site surgeries
- Emotional or physical pain incurred during or after the surgery.
To claim the compensation for medical malpractice, there are a few things to keep in mind –
- Must be a violation of the standard of care – negligence can be established if a patient feels that the standard of care has not been met in their particular case. This standard of care is recognized by the profession of medicine and pertains to whether the maintenance can be carried out in similar cases by two different medical professionals. Because such a standard is agreed upon, a patient may expect medical institutions and professionals to uphold it, the absence of which gives the patient enough reason to demand compensation.
- The injury must be caused by negligence – simply violating the standard of care is not enough for a patient to claim the benefits of negligence. The patient must prove, additionally, that an injury was incurred because of the lack of standard of care as well as negligence and that the injury would not have been incurred by the patient if the proper standards and protocols were followed.
- The injury must lead to significant damages – medical malpractice lawsuits are naturally quite expensive as well as time-consuming. They require testimonies from different medical professionals that were consulted on the case and can drag on for hours and days at a stretch. If the damages incurred due to negligence are minute or small, going ahead with the case could turn out more expensive than the cost of the damage. Henceforth, it is only feasible when the damage incurred is significantly larger.
Analyzing the first steps towards pursuing a medical malpractice case is highly important and therefore, it is recommended that the patient consults with a medical malpractice attorney. Choosing board-certified attorneys is the best option for a patient seeking a medical malpractice claim to understand whether it is a viable option for them at all. It also becomes much easier to have an experienced attorney to guide one through the process. Attorneys at the Autrey Law Firm have years of expertise under their belt to handle medical malpractice cases – starting from helping with the gathering of proof to the ultimate result.
