If you’re planning to file a medical malpractice lawsuit or simply want to know more about what it is so you can make a better judgment about whether or not you have a case, you need to understand that not all injuries suffered in a hospital or due to a medication are caused by malpractice. Some things, like allergic reactions patients didn’t know about or injuries that were a potential result of treatment are within the scope of your care. However, if you were to tell a doctor you had an allergy to ibuprofen and then were given that drug by the same doctor, that could be construed as negligence.
Medical malpractice laws are in place to help you get compensation after you suffer harm from a substandard medical treatment. So, if you are injured during surgery because it was performed on the wrong site, you could choose to seek compensation for those injuries, your medical bills, and your pain and suffering. Doctors, nurses, and the hospital itself are all responsible for your injuries if they resulted from a deviation from the quality of care that is expected.
What this means is that if you were treated by another doctor and that doctor would have treated you differently and with a better outcome even though the situation involving your medical needs was the same, your doctor and hospital could be accused of being negligent or of not providing good enough medical care to their patients.
Diagnosis errors alone make up around 160,000 of the deaths that take place in the United States each year. Another study claims that around 195,000 patients in the U.S. die from preventable in-hospital medical errors. If you’ve been hurt, reporting your injury is important. This could help hospitals change and provide better care in the future to others, and you could be compensated.
Source: Medical News Today, “What is medical malpractice?,” Christian Nordqvist, accessed May. 27, 2015
