Medical malpractice or medical negligence is the failure of a healthcare provider to provide an acceptable standard of medical care to a patient. So, what happens when a surgeon makes a mistake? Usually, this involves situations in which a doctor, nurse, or other medical provider commits an error or omits an act that causes injury or death to a patient. This injury can result in a personal injury lawsuit. Finding a Woodstock personal injury lawyer is easy with the Law Offices of P. Kent Eichelzer III.
The Mistake Will Be Rectified
If a surgeon makes a mistake during surgery, the hospital will likely rectify the situation as soon as possible. This may mean performing another surgery to correct any damages caused by an error during previous procedures.
An Investigation Will Take Place
If you suspect you’ve been harmed by medical malpractice during surgery, contact your surgeon immediately and ask for an investigation. The investigation may be done internally or externally depending on how severe your injuries were and how negligent the surgeon was believed to have been.
A Claim Could Be Made
The insurance company may contact you and ask if they can settle your claim before it goes to trial. It is up to you whether or not you want to settle with them out of court for a certain amount of money. If you decide not to settle out of court, it will go through court proceedings and eventually go on trial, where a jury will decide if negligence occurred in your case. With a negligence case, you will want to hire an Atlanta Lawyer to cover all the facts.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice is a legal term used to describe the act of negligence on behalf of a doctor or other medical professional. If you have been injured due to someone else’s actions or lack thereof, you may have grounds for legal action against them. Your lawyer can help you understand your rights and options when filing a claim against someone who has hurt you or your loved one due to their negligence.
Medical malpractice occurs when:
- A patient is harmed by the negligence of their doctor or other health care provider;
- An error caused harm in diagnosis, treatment, or medication; and
- The patient can prove that the doctor or other health care provider did not meet the standard of care for that specific injury or illness.
Not Every Surgical Error is Malpractice
Not all surgical errors are considered malpractice. Most surgical errors aren’t malpractice because they aren’t intentional acts; they’re just complications from an operation. However, if an error was made during surgery because of negligence on behalf of the surgeon, then it could be considered malpractice. A surgeon could also be liable for malpractice if they failed to operate correctly and safely (e.g., performing surgery without proper anesthesia).
Malpractice Versus Complication
If you think your doctor made a mistake, it’s important to know the difference between a medical error and medical malpractice. Medical errors always happen in hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices. They are not necessarily negligent and can often be unavoidable, given the complexity of modern medicine. Medical malpractice happens when the doctor or other healthcare provider makes an error they should have known was likely to cause harm and fails to act reasonably in response to that risk.
If You Are a Victim of Medical Practice
Medical malpractice is a serious matter that can have a lasting impact on the victim. In addition to being physically injured, victims may have to deal with financial hardships as well.
While most surgeons are very skilled and dedicated to their patients, there is always the possibility of mistakes being made during surgery. If a patient has been harmed by a surgeon’s mistake, they may be entitled to compensation for their injury. But you should take care of some things first. Your health is the top priority.
- Seek Medical Attention – If you believe a doctor’s negligence harmed you, seek medical attention immediately if necessary. If you are underinsured or uninsured, this may be difficult — do your best!
- Hire an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney – If you were injured by medical malpractice, hire an experienced attorney to handle these cases.
Proving Malpractice Happened
To file a lawsuit against a doctor or other medical professional, you must prove that he or she committed malpractice. To do this, you need to show the following.
- Negligence – First and foremost, you must be able to show that your doctor was negligent. Negligence means that your doctor failed to use the standard of care expected of other doctors in similar situations. This can include performing surgery on the wrong body part or using tools improperly during an operation.
- Causation – For you to win a malpractice suit, it’s not simply enough for your doctor to have been negligent. You must also show that the negligence caused harm or injury. This can be very difficult for patients facing long-term problems like chronic pain or disability due to their injuries. This is specially true if their condition wasn’t immediately apparent after their procedure.
- Damages – Finally, even if you’ve proven negligence and causation in your case, you still might lose if there’s no way for a judge or jury to determine how much money should be awarded as compensation for the injury.
Need A Lawyer? Contact Kent Eichelzer III Today!
Medical cases are complex, and it can be even more complicated to prove when a person is injured because of negligence or malpractice. Before speaking with a qualified medical malpractice attorney, you must wait to make decisions about your case.
Medical malpractice can happen to anyone in any medical facility or hospital. While it is rare and only affects a small number of patients, it can have devastating effects on the lives of those who it does affect. Any person attending a general practitioner or surgeon giving information before an operation can go wrong at any time. It can result in unintended damage to any part of the body and cause terrible injuries that could have been avoided had there not been a mistake during the procedure conducted by a medical professional.