Common Causes of Malpractice Litigation
Malpractice litigation is a tense process. Whether or not the error constitutes malpractice depends on whether the patient can establish four legal elements that include a professional obligation; breach of this duty; injury resulted from the breach and tangible damages.
Plaintiffs must also prove the facts using evidence, such as expert testimony and depositions.
Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose
The inability of a doctor to correctly diagnose an illness or injury can lead to grave complications, or even death. Incorrect diagnosis is a common reason for medical negligence. To prove negligence, the patient or their attorney must show that a competent doctor in similar circumstances and in the same specialty would not have missed the diagnosis.
The misdiagnosis of a patient does not always mean malpractice. Even highly skilled and experienced doctors can make mistakes. Therefore, any claim for malpractice must be backed by other factors, such as breach, proximate causes and actual injury. If a doctor fails sterilize his equipment before administering anesthesia and the patient becomes infected due to this, the doctor might be liable.
Lawsuits alleging sunrise malpractice attorney are typically filed in state trial courts where the alleged malpractice took place. However, federal courts may have jurisdiction under limited circumstances. For example, a claim could be filed in federal court if there is a dispute over a statute of limitations or when there is a substantial diversity of citizenship of those involved in the dispute. Alternatively, some claims are settled through voluntary binding arbitration. This is a less formal process that is governed by professional decision makers. It is designed to lower costs, speed up legal process, and reduce the risk of overly generous juries. Arbitration is not available in all cases of malpractice.
Dosage for a drug that is not correct
Medication errors are one of the main causes of medical malpractice lawsuits. These errors are caused by a physician who writes a prescription in a wrong format or giving the patient the incorrect dosage. These errors are generally preventable. In certain circumstances the hospital staff member, a pharmacist or other health care providers may be held liable for the injuries of the patient who received the wrong dosage of a drug.
A doctor may prescribe the wrong medicine because of a misdiagnosis, or simply making a mistake in the prescription. A health care provider can also prescribe the wrong dosage due to a lapse in communication. For instance nurses might take a doctor’s prescription and read it incorrectly or a pharmacist could fail to fill the prescription. In other cases the doctor could delay giving the correct medication, which could cause the patient’s illness to worsening.
A plaintiff must prove for the sake of winning a malpractice lawsuit that the medical professional violated their standards of practice and that their injuries were directly caused by the negligence. This requires medical expert testimony. A medical Dyer Malpractice Lawsuit case also must establish the extent and the damages caused by the victim’s injuries. This includes the cost of treatment and any wage loss. The more loss you suffer of the claim, the greater the value of the claim.
Incorrect Procedure
It may seem impossible that medical professionals would carry out the incorrect procedure on a patient, however, this type of event is quite common. If a surgeon makes this error can be found accountable for negligence. However, a patient who is injured as a result of a surgical error could also be held responsible for any negligence that occurred the path to the procedure.
A health care professional accused of henderson malpractice lawsuit must prove that a patient was injured by an action or failure to perform the act. To prove this the legal team representing the patient must show that: (1) the doctor was under a duty to provide care or treatment; (2) that the doctor violated that duty; (3) that there is a direct causal connection between the breach and the injury; and (4) that the injury results in damages that the legal system is able to resolve.
A breach of the duty of care is insignificant unless it causes injury which is why medical malpractice claims are typically founded on a legal principle called “res ipsa loquitur.” This law states that, in a lot of instances certain injuries are evident and obvious that they are only explained by negligence.
Depending on the circumstances of the situation, the plaintiff (the patient or their legally designated representative) or their attorney could bring the case in state or federal court. The majority of malpractice cases are filed in state court. However, under certain circumstances, a medical malpractice case can be filed in federal district court.
Wrong Surgery
A wrong-site procedure is a rare error, but it can be considered medical malpractice when the procedure is performed on the wrong area of the body. This kind of error is usually the result of miscommunication between members of a surgical team or production pressure that results in the surgeon being assigned multiple surgeries at the same time. In these situations the surgeon isn’t solely responsible for a wrong-site operation due to a legal rule known as “res ipsa locquitur” which states that the outcome is a matter of fact and cannot be attributed to negligence.
If a patient is injured by wrong-site surgery the patient may require additional treatments to correct problems caused due to the surgical error. Patients and their family members are left with hefty medical bills. These expenses must be considered when calculating the financial impact of medical malpractice claims.
The majority of times surgeons are held accountable for surgical mistakes. They are responsible in preparing the patient for the procedure, checking the medical records and chart of the patient, coordinating with the medical staff, and ensuring that the incision was made at the correct location. In certain instances the hospital or anesthesiologist may also be held responsible. Medical malpractice cases are typically filed in state courts, but in certain situations they may be transferred to federal courts.