Doctors, surgeons, nurses, and other healthcare professionals are held to extremely high standards. When you work in healthcare, making even a small error can cause devastating results. For example, misreading a mediation order by misplacing one decimal point can mean that a patient receives 10 or even 100 times the amount of medication he or she should receive.
If you or a loved one were harmed by a medical mistake, you may be able to hold the at-fault party accountable through a medical malpractice claim. You may also be entitled to financial reimbursement for medical expenses, lost income caused by missed work, pain and suffering, and more.
Medical Negligence Can Take Many Forms
In the context of a civil case, negligence refers to a party’s failure to meet a certain duty or standard. Medical professionals are expected to meet the medical standard of care when providing services to patients. When a professional breaches the standard of care and a patient is injured or killed as a result, the patient (or the patient’s surviving family) may sue the medical professional or facility for medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice cases may involve:
- Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis – Most of the time, when we visit the doctor, we are seeking answers. We want to know what condition is causing our symptoms and how to fix it. Doctors who fail to provide a diagnosis or who diagnose the patient with the wrong condition may be held accountable through a medical malpractice claim.
- Medication mistakes – Giving a patient the wrong type or amount of medication can be extremely harmful or even deadly. Medication mistakes may be caused by clerical errors, miscommunication, or simply carelessness. Liability for a medication mistake may fall to a doctor, hospital, nurse, pharmacist, or a number of other parties.
- Surgical errors – Any surgical procedure carriers certain risks, however, doctors, surgeons, and other staff can take precautions to minimize the risks as much as possible. Unfortunately, surgical errors still occur. Accidental retention of a foreign body occurs when medical staff accidentally leave surgical tools inside the patient’s body. Anesthesia errors can cause brain damage, stroke, and heart attacks. Sometimes, anesthesia mistakes can even cause the patient to wake up during the surgery but remain unable to move or cry for help.
- Incorrect medical treatment – Doctors sometimes provide the wrong type of medical care or procedure. This not only puts the patient through unnecessary procedures and medications, it also deprives them of the medical treatment they actually need.
- Birth injuries – Pregnant women and newborns require specialized care. When a medical professional makes a mistake during labor and delivery, the baby may be left with life-long medical complications.
Contact a Houston Medical Malpractice Lawyer
If you or a loved one were the victim of a medical mistake, contact the knowledgeable Harris County medical malpractice attorneys at Law Office of Shane R. Kadlec. Our team of skilled professionals can help you explore your legal options and take action to pursue compensation. Call 281-643-2000 for a free consultation.
Source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2933474/
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