Medical malpractice lawyers assist whenever medical malpractice occurs. Read on to find more about medical malpractice and the legal help you can get:
What Is Medical Malpractice?
When health care professionals fail to provide appropriate treatment or neglect their duties, it is known as medical malpractice. A health care professional or a doctor is expected to provide required health services to the patients. All the injuries or issues suffered by the patient are not due to the medical health care officials. However, if any injury or inconvenience occurs due to the negligence of health care officials or doctors, they are responsible for it.
Types of Medical Negligence Incurred
Usually, the following medical malpractices are exercised by medical staff:
- Anesthesia Error:
When anesthesiologists fail to manage the fluid concentration, machine operation, drug administration, and monitor operation, they risk the patient’s life.
- Wrong Diagnosis:
Inappropriate collection of medical histories and non-serious diagnosis of severe diseases like cancer, stroke, or other disorders lead to some serious medical complications.
- Negligence in Emergency Rooms:
The non-serious behavior of staff and their irresponsibility in the emergency rooms are just miserable. Many patients lose their precious lives to negligence in the emergency rooms.
- Surgical Inaccuracy:
The lack of experienced surgeons has resulted in many fatalities. Many doctors mistakenly operate the wrong area, bruise other organs or leave various gauzes in the patient being operated on. These mistakes lead to serious health issues for the patients.
- Medication Blunder:
Wrong medication often creates severe allergies or other reactions to the patients. Some pharmacists also fill in the wrong medicines on the prescription.
- Error of Radiology:
Serious medical situations get misdiagnosed because of misreading an X-ray, MRI, or CT scan. Most people in intensive care units die due to misdiagnosis of their diseases.
- Injuries During Birth:
Delivering a child is never taken seriously by many doctors. A lot of babies face head injuries or nerve damages during labor.
- Meningitis:
Meningitis causes harm to thousands of children.
- Injury in Bowel Track:
A perforated bowel injury occurs due to the non-serious and negligent attitude or practice of the health care workers in the hospital.
The doctors and other medical professionals incur many mistakes other than those mentioned above. These all situations can affect the lifestyle of the person being treated.
Who is a Medical Malpractice Attorney and Why They are Needed
A medical malpractice attorney is a person who assists the patient in pursuing legal action against the misconduct or negligence of the medical professionals. The lawyers file suit against the doctors or related medical staff to claim injuries or other discomfort faced by their client (patient).
The attorney should be proficient in both law and medicine. Many complex cases require their excellent knowledge and experience.
An excellent attorney shall:
- Be aware of different medical conditions.
- Can go through complex precedential records.
- Knows where to consult and what to ask.
- Could foresee the techniques that defendant lawyer can use.
- Should identify all the losses that occurred.
- Can carry forward complex cases.
- Fight the case with full dignity, honesty, and integrity.
- Can collect and evaluate the related documents and pieces of evidence.
- Can find out who is at fault and liable to pay off losses.
Requirements to Call for a Case
It is the job of the lawyer to identify whether it calls for a case or not. Most of the time, a legal procedure is required, which needs the assistance of an attorney. But in some cases, no legal action is required. Firstly the lawyer, with his experience, decides to call for a case. Secondly, he can also look at the following:
- There was a Relationship Between the Patient and the Doctor:
First of all, the lawyer must identify an actual relationship between the patient and the doctor. There should be an official meeting of both parties. In the absence of evidence of the patient going to the doctor, the doctor cannot be legally sued for negligence.
- Medical Professional was Negligent:
Then after identifying the presence of a relationship between the patient and doctor, the lawyer has to confirm whether the medical professional was at fault.
- Negligence of the Doctor Led to Injury or Other Health Issues:
It is very important to see whether the doctor’s negligence led to any injury or harm to the patient. The case only becomes strong when there is harm to the patient’s health because of the misconduct of the medical care staff.
- That Injury or Loss Caused Serious Damages:
Even if the doctor performed irresponsibly, the patient cannot sue him legally until they have suffered serious damage or loss. e.g., mental disturbance, physical injury, medical bills, income loss, etc.
A Medical Case Involves
- The Plaintiff:
A plaintiff is the one who suffers loss or injury. The loss is incurred because of the medical malpractice exercised by health care professionals. The patient is normally considered a plaintiff.
- The Defendant:
The defendant accounts for the injury caused to the patient. The defendant can also hire a lawyer to prove himself innocent.
- Jury:
It is the party that gives a verdict in a lawsuit.
The Proceeding of Legal Action
First of all, a lawyer files a case on behalf of the plaintiff. The plaintiff’s lawyer and the defendant submit all the required proofs, including bills and other medical documents, to the court. The plaintiff proves his sufferings. The verdict will be given in favor of the prevailing party, who will prove itself right. Then the court decides the damages to be offered to the victim party. Many times losing party can ask for trials again in the court and proceed accordingly.
Damages a Plaintiff Can Get
Damages can be of two types:
- The Compensatory Damages:
These involve economic damages such as medical expenses, income losses, and other related bills. These can also be physical or psychological, e.g., loss of organ or body part, severe pain, mental pressure, etc.
- The Punitive Damages:
It is a sort of punishment that is only given to the defendant if he is proved guilty. It is also considered compensation.
Each lawyer or law firm works differently. Their fee also varies. The fee is in proportion to the amount of settlement. With the help of the lawyer, it becomes easy to proceed with legal obligations with accuracy. Have you suffered as a result of medical malpractice and are in need of legal help? Contact a medical malpractice lawyer in Philly and get the maximum possible compensation for your loss.
