Medical malpractice ranked third as the leading cause of death among Americans in 2016. Medical malpractice has become more prevalent than ever. If you or a loved one has suffered at the hands of a doctor, medical professional, or a hospital, enlisting the help of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer can help you obtain the compensation you deserve to deal and recover from this devastating loss or injury.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
When a patient suffers harm or death due to a doctor or medical professional failing to competently perform their duties, fail to administer the correct treatment or properly diagnose, or the doctor made a mistake during treatment, medical malpractice occurs.
To prove your healthcare provider committed medical malpractice, your lawyer will need to demonstrate the following:
- A doctor-patient relationship existed: This means you can’t sue a doctor who gave you informal advice outside of their practice;
- Negligence occurred: If you’re unhappy with your care or don’t recover from your disease, it does not mean medical malpractice occurred. The doctor must have caused you to harm in a way that another competent doctor, in the same situation, would not have;
- The harm or injury led to physical or emotional pain, lost wages, or additional medical bills.
Did Medical Malpractice Happen To Me?
With medical malpractice on the rise, it’s essential to understand the different types that can occur and if it happened to you or a loved one.
The most common types of medical malpractice are:
- Failure to diagnose: a doctor fails to diagnose you properly, and any other reasonable and competent doctor would have;
- Improper treatment: A doctor selects a treatment that another qualified doctor would not have, or they choose the correct course of treatment but administer it incorrectly in a way that causes harm;
- Failure to warn patients of risks: If the doctor fails to educate the patient about the known risks and the patient would not have chosen this treatment, they learned about the risks, which constitutes medical malpractice.
What Should I Do If I Think I Have A Medical Malpractice Case?
If you think you or a loved one suffered from medical malpractice, call Hyland, Padilla, & Fowler’s law offices right away. An experienced lawyer will help you have the best chance to win your case and receive the most damages possible. Most states have a statute of limitations on medical malpractice injuries, so it’s essential to reach out to a lawyer right away.
Hyland, Padilla, & Fowler offer free evaluations to understand your case better and get to know our team.