Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Instances of medical malpractice can result in debilitating, painful, and expensive injuries and complications. If you believe you may be a victim of medical malpractice, you’ll need to know what does and does not count as medical malpractice.

What Counts as Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice is broadly defined as when a healthcare provider causes harm to a patient due to negligent care. The harm caused must be a result of improper care and not harm caused in the line of treatment. In other words, harm in itself is not sufficient for a case to be considered medical malpractice. For example, chemotherapy may be considered harmful, but as long as it’s administered properly (harm caused by improper use of chemotherapy may qualify as medical malpractice), it is generally not medical malpractice.

Any harm caused by medical malpractice must also be significant enough to warrant pursuit of the case or the cost of litigation may be greater than the compensation. You must prove that your injury resulted in disability, loss of income, suffering, or significant medical bills.

In addition to undue harm, another key aspect of any medical malpractice case is that the standard of care was violated. Standard of care refers to prescribing treatment that makes logical sense and is in line with what other healthcare providers would prescribe for the same problem. If a healthcare provider deviates from the standard of care and this causes injury, then medical malpractice is likely to have occurred.

What Are Some Types of Medical Malpractice?

Errors during surgery, anesthesia, diagnosis, childbirth or medication are all types of medical malpractice.

• Surgical errors may include operating on the wrong patient or body part, leaving surgical tools in the patient’s body, or damaging other organs.
• Anesthesia errors can refer to improper intubation, administering the wrong amount of anesthesia, failing to check a patient’s medical history before administering anesthesia, or neglecting to explain proper pre-anesthesia procedure to the patient undergoing anesthesia.
• Diagnostic errors might be diagnosing the wrong condition or failing to diagnose a condition that leads to undue harm. A common type of medical malpractice in this category is failing to diagnose a serious condition that requires early treatment, such as cancer, which leads to complications later.
• Childbirth errors can include improper prenatal care or causing harm to the fetus or mother.
• Medication errors may refer to prescribing the wrong medication or administering the wrong medication or dosage. The latter is a common mistake made by nurses.

It can be difficult to understand if you have a medical malpractice case. You may be entitled to compensation. Consulting a medical malpractice lawyer in Bloomington, IL from an experienced firm like Pioletti Pioletti & Nichols, who can explain your options to you, can help you decide whether your case is worth pursuing.