Anyone who has experienced medical malpractice knows how stressful and frightening it can be. If you believe that you have experienced medical malpractice, it’s important to work with a qualified medical malpractice lawyer to ensure that you get the legal representation you need while you seek compensation.
Ask a Medical Malpractice Lawyer: 7 Examples of Medical Malpractice
1. A Delayed Diagnosis
One of the first examples of medical malpractice you’ll see is a delay in a diagnosis. If you are not diagnosed in time, this could result in you not getting the necessary treatment that you need, which could, in turn, lead to more complications.
For your case to count as malpractice, you’ll need to be able to prove that your doctor failed to diagnose you in a timely manner when another competent doctor would have been able to diagnose you faster. You’ll also need to prove that your outcome would have been better if you had been diagnosed sooner.
2. Misdiagnosis
In the medical world, a misdiagnosis can mean a few different things. It can mean that you were incorrectly diagnosed with one condition when you have a completely different illness or condition altogether. It can also mean that you were not diagnosed at all, which means you did not receive the treatment you need.
Misdiagnoses are much more common than you might think. Sometimes it can be difficult to pin down what an illness actually is. But it will only count as malpractice if you can prove that a competent doctor would have diagnosed you properly.
3. Surgical Errors
While misdiagnoses are some of the most common types of malpractice, surgical errors are probably some of the most well-known examples. It can be stressful to undergo surgery even when you are being operated on by a well-trained, careful, and practiced doctor.
But experiencing a major surgical error can result in long-term or chronic effects or possibly even death. A few specific examples of this type of malpractice include using surgical instruments that were not properly sterilized, leaving medical equipment inside the patient, using unsafe procedures, or operating on the wrong body part.
4. Childbirth Injuries
Preparing to welcome a new life into the world is incredibly exciting. However, it can also be a stressful experience. If you experience medical malpractice during either the prenatal or birthing process that results in a lasting injury to your baby, this can be deeply traumatic.
If your baby has experienced a childbirth injury due to malpractice, you should be compensated for what you’re been through. Possible injuries during childbirth might occur because of forceps being used incorrectly, the baby being deprived of oxygen, dislocation or nerve damage during the birth, or the mother hemorrhaging.
5. Mistakes with Anesthesia
Going through surgery can be a stressful thing to contemplate. But one of the things many people feel the most concerned about is the anesthetic. The anesthetic needs to be applied correctly to keep you safe during your surgery.
A specifically trained practitioner should apply the anesthetic. They’ll ask you about your medical history, health, allergies, medications, and other elements of your health they should know about. If your anesthesiologist failed to inform you properly about the safety and side effects of your anesthetic, you were not monitored well during the surgery, or you were not prepared properly, this counts as medical malpractice.
6. Medication Errors
It’s important to make sure that you are getting the proper medication if you are sick. If you are not provided with the proper medication, then you’re not likely to recover from your condition. You could also experience lasting repercussions from this.
Some medication errors include writing out an incorrect prescription or choosing the wrong prescription in the first place. Improper packaging of medication could also count as medical malpractice. If you have experienced this type of medical malpractice, work with a top Baltimore medical malpractice lawyer to get fair compensation.
7. Hospital Infections
When you go to a hospital because of an illness or injury, you expect your doctor to treat you right. Unfortunately, hospitals are full of pathogens that can be brought in by other sick patients, or just from people visiting the hospital bringing them in from the outside world.
Hospital infections are unfortunately fairly common. They include examples like gastrointestinal infections, central nervous system infections, cardiovascular infections, or infections of a surgical site. Like all medical malpractice, you will need to prove to the judge or jury that a competent doctor would have been able to prevent this infection from occurring.
We put a lot of trust in doctors and hospitals. That means that experiencing medical malpractice can be even more traumatizing than many other kinds of accidents and injuries. Your lawyer will help you ensure that you’re compensated for what you’ve been through.