We entrust doctors, nurses, and hospitals with our lives, and if one negligent mistake is made, it can be life-changing. When things go wrong during medical treatment, it can result in serious injuries or worse, the death of a loved one. When a patient is needlessly injured by a preventable error, the medical provider must be held accountable. If an incident of medical malpractice has caused serious harm to you or a loved one, contact the Meriden personal injury lawyers at Loughlin FitzGerald, P.C.
This includes a failure to diagnose and delayed diagnosis. When a patient does not receive the proper medical care for their condition, it can become worse and eventually lead to death.
Preventable surgical errors include operating on the wrong-site or wrong patient, leaving tools inside of a patient, anesthesia errors, and more.
When a physician deviates from the standard of care in the treatment of a patient’s disease or injury, which may result in illness or further injury. This can be done by failing to or prescribing the wrong treatment, such as medication, radiation treatments, physical therapy, etc.
Labor and delivery medical negligence poses a large risk to both the baby and mother. A medical professional may fail to perform prenatal tests, inaccurately monitor pregnancy or delivery, and cause birth injuries.
Patients can become sick, injured, or even die if a healthcare provider prescribes the wrong medication or incorrect dosage.
A significant part of a physician’s job is to monitor their patients for signs of complications. Especially when a patient is under anesthesia, in labor, undergoing surgery, or receiving some other medical treatment.
Other types of errors include inadequate documentation of a patient’s medical history, failure to follow up, poor record-keeping, and miscommunication or lack thereof between medical team members. There are too many types of preventable medical errors to name them all, but any one of them can result in serious injury or death of a patient.
The most common causes of medical malpractice include:
In general, it is rare that healthcare professionals would intentionally attempt to harm to their patients. Rather, medical malpractice or negligence usually happens because of carelessness or human error.
The following four factors must exist in order for a patient to pursue damages in a medical malpractice claim:
The patient must first prove that the healthcare provider in question had a duty to act in adherence to the standard of care level for a provider with their skill and training. The medical professional must have been under obligation to act on behalf of the victim, or else the case is not viable.
The patient must be able to establish that the healthcare provider breached their duty and received negligent care. This can be done with the combined efforts of expert witnesses and an experienced medical malpractice attorney.
This will require the patient showing that the negligent care was the direct cause of their injury.
Lastly, the patient must have suffered financial losses as a result of the negligent care. This can include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, etc.
Each one of these factors is critical to a case’s successful outcome. Medical professionals often use a patient’s signed consent forms as a defense, which are given prior to administering treatment. However, it does not give permission for acts of negligence.
If you have been a victim of medical malpractice, call the legal team at Loughlin FitzGerald, P.C. We offer free case evaluations to discuss your legal rights. Fill out our contact form online or call (203) 265-2035.