When a patient is harmed by a doctor that doesn’t give appropriate health care treatment, the patient could sue for medical malpractice. Filing these cases, however, can be far more complicated than say a car accident claim. In some cases, multiple medical staff can interact with a patient, making it difficult to figure out who exactly was responsible for the patient’s injury. Further, injuries as a result of medical malpractice could show up months after treatment, making it complicated to figure out if it truly was a doctor’s negligence that caused the problem or if the injury is a result of the original illness. Here are three common examples of medical malpractice errors that could lead to a lawsuit.
Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis the most common reason people file medical malpractice claims. To prove a misdiagnosis claim, you will have to consider what your doctor did to treat you. You will the have to compare your treatment to another competent doctor’s treatment plan had they handled the case. If it is found that the competent doctor under the same scenario wouldn’t have made the same misdiagnosis, then the treating doctor could be responsible for malpractice.
Pharmaceutical Errors
Pharmaceutical errors injure about 1.5 million people in the US every year. These medical malpractice errors can range from the initial prescription to the actual dispensing of the drug. A few examples include a doctor prescribing the wrong medication or the hospital administering the wrong medicine. Pharmacist dispensing the incorrect dosage is the most common type of pharmaceutical error. It’s not just pharmacists; nurses and pharmacists can also be sued for dispensing the wrong dosage. This means that a patient got too much or too little of a drug. A high dosage could injure the patient as their body cannot handle the amount of medication working through their body. A low dosage could mean that the patient’s illness isn’t treated effectively.
Anesthesia and Surgery Errors
Anesthesia and surgery errors could also be the subject of a medical malpractice claim. Anesthesia errors are considered to be more dangerous since a small error in dosage can result in brain damage or even death. These errors happen if the patient’s vital signs are not being monitored properly or the dosage of anesthesia is incorrect. Surgeons can also cause injury by leaving medical instruments inside a patient. These surgical mistakes have led to problems caused by flesh-eating bacteria introduced into the body by the medical instrument.
If you have been injured due to a medical practitioner’s mistake or negligence, contact the attorneys at the Mitchell Leeds, LLP. Our firm strongly believes in working to get you all the compensation possible to help pay for your injuries. We’re prepared to offer legal guidance to help strengthen your case against negligent doctors. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
