Your medical practitioner takes a vow to “do no harm” when dealing with you as a patient. And while most doctors practice medicine with the goal of helping their patients achieve the best health possible, accidents and mistakes happen. Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in America now, surpassed only by heart disease and cancer in number. Medical malpractice claims are filed only in about 20 percent of potential cases, some of which are never even discovered by patients and their families. If you are a victim of medical malpractice, then you need to contact Russell and Hill right away. Our Auburn medical malpractice attorney can help you hold the responsible party accountable and help you get the compensation you deserve to become whole again.
Medical malpractice is not limited to just doctors. Nurses, physician’s assistants, medical assistants, nurse practitioners, midwives, radiologists, lab techs and even dentists can cause medical errors that result in medical malpractice. Some common medical errors that result in the deaths of around 250,000 people annually include:
- Delay in treatment. Doctors sometimes miss a true diagnosis, which leads to delayed treatment of the medical issue.
- Misdiagnosis. Doctors often make an error in diagnosing a condition, leading to unnecessary and even harmful treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation in cancer misdiagnoses.
- Errors in medication. Taking unnecessary medication, medication at the wrong dosage, or the wrong medication can lead to serious problems. Drug interactions can also be a source of medical malpractice.
- Postoperative negligence. Failing to monitor a patient following a surgical procedure can lead to doctors missing signs of complications. Patients can develop sepsis, organ perforation and internal bleeding, among other negative outcomes.
- Dangerous medical devices. Hip implants, hernia mesh, surgical warming blankets and IVC blood clot filters are just a handful of faulty medical devices that have been found to harm patients in the past.
If your provider was negligent in your care and failed to operate within the standard of care used by other providers with similar training, and you experience harm as a result, then you may have grounds for a medical malpractice action. As an example, if your doctor sends you home with a diagnosis of heartburn and doesn’t try to rule out heart attack first, you may be able to file a claim if you ultimately had a heart attack after leaving his care. If you wake up during a medical procedure while you are still in the operating room, then the anesthesiologist whose job it was to keep you sedated may be held accountable for the trauma you experienced as a result.
Consulting with Our Legal Team
It’s never easy to come forward with a medical malpractice claim, and many people want to just put the nightmare behind them and move forward. However, you owe it to yourself and your family to collect the losses you incurred due to the negligence of your medical provider. Taking legal action against your provider also deters him or her from repeating their mistakes in the future. Reach out to our Auburn medical malpractice attorney for a free, no-obligation review of your case today.
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