What is medical malpractice?
When an inaccurate diagnosis or incorrect treatment occurs in injury, this may be an instance of medical malpractice. With medical malpractice cases, there are three specific considerations: Negligence, injury, and damages. This includes the negligence of the doctor that acted below the necessary standard of care, the injury sustained, and finally the damages that occur as a result.
Unlike medical malpractice, personal injury often involves car accidents or premise liability cases where someone gets hurt. The allegations made in personal injury cases are that someone was not safe and did not help prevent the injury. Medical malpractice, on the other hand, is the legal term for a medical mistake. Medical malpractice is when someone suffers a preventable or avoidable injury. It typically involves somebody who did something wrong, like when a doctor or a nurse failed to do something that they should have done. An example of failing to do something that should have been done is when someone goes to the emergency room with chest pain, and the medical staff does not order an EKG, and it then results in death from a heart attack. Overall, medical malpractice is defined as a medical mistake.
Frequent medical malpractice cases
Some examples of medical malpractice may include:
- Misdiagnosis
- Surgical errors
- Delays in diagnosis
- Prescription errors
- Anesthesia errors
What do you consider a medical malpractice and how do you make that determination?
A mistake is a medical malpractice but not every injury is a medical malpractice. An example of what that might look like is if you were supposed to take one pill and the nurse gave you three, but you were not harmed. Was that a mistake? Sure, but did it cause you permanent harm? No. The attorney will, through a series of analysis, decide whether there is medical malpractice. A way to analyze a medical malpractice case is thinking of it as a 3-legged stool. A sturdy stool has three legs. The three-leg analysis is this: first, you must show that there is a mistake. The other leg is causation, where you ask if the mistake caused harm. The third and final leg is damages. You must have all three, mistake, harm, and damages, to be a good sturdy case. If any of them is missing and you can’t prove that it was a mistake or that it didn’t cause harm or that you don’t have serious injuries, one of the legs is gone, and your case will fall apart. Therefore, you must be able to prove all these elements to have a sturdy medical malpractice case.
What constitutes actual damages in medical malpractice?
Typically, you must have a severe and permanent injury. By serious, lawyers mean serious! It is difficult to talk about but the injury has to be a stroke, a heart attack, a death, a serious brain injury, a loss of ability to do something important in your life. The cost of litigating these cases on the low end is $25,000. On the high end, it can be more than $500,000. Those costs are only to pursue the case. From the monetary side of it, you must have a serious injury so that time and money can be invested to get you the result you want.
Finding the proper medical malpractice attorney
Having a good report of your attorney is critical because you will be spending time with them. It is like a relationship, and finding an attorney who is a good communicator is vital. You need to look at the attorney's experience. It would be best if you looked for a lawyer that does not have a thousand cases. You want to make sure that your lawyer will look at your case almost every day. If the attorney has thousands of cases, you know he won't look at your case that often. You want to find lawyers with experience, a reasonable caseload, and good communicators.
Our Medical Malpractice Attorneys in Orlando Are Committed To Help Our Clients Obtain Their Best Possible Result
In the medical field, there exists an established “standard of care” that doctors are expected to follow with each patient. When this standard of care is not met, injury or death may occur and this is considered medical malpractice. Individuals who have experienced damages from medical malpractice may be entitled to compensation in many cases. At Mubarak Law in Orlando, our experienced legal team understands the complex nature of medical malpractice, and the difficulties encountered when navigating this field. If you suspect that you, or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice, please contact us today at (407) 502 3000 for a free case evaluation. You may also fill out the online form provided at the top of this page and we will contact you shortly. Through specialized and skilled representation, our Orlando attorneys are dedicated to helping potential victims of medical malpractice get the justice they deserve.
