The legal definition of medical malpractice is as following: a healthcare professional (such as a doctor or nurse) or a healthcare facility (such as a hospital or nursing home) through the act of negligence causes harm or injury to a patient.
What is Medical Negligence?
There are several different kinds of medical negligence including but not limited to:
- failure to diagnose ailment (missed diagnosis)
- diagnosed wrong ailment (misdiagnosis)
- misred lab or test results
- improper medication or dosage
- prescription errors
- anesthesia errors
- surgical errors
- birth injuries
Characteristics of A Medical Malpractice Case
Under the law, in order for a case to qualify to be tried as a medical malpractice case the following conditions need to be met:
- Establish that there was a breach in the standard of care. Medical professionals are held to a certain standard to perform reasonable and acceptable medical treatment. If these conditions are not met by any of the things listed above, negligence might have occurred.
- The breach in the stands of care caused an injury. If the healthcare professional breached the standard of care but no injury occurred, then the case is invalid. It is up to the patient and their attorneys to approve that an injury occurred as a direct result of the negligent actions of the healthcare professionals or facility.
- The injury sustained resulted in damages. It is also not enough to have just sustained an injury. The injury must have caused severe enough damages to the patient that part of their life was impacted in a significant way such as being unable to work or requiring lifelong medical treatment.
Contact Our Medical Malpractice Attorney
If you or a loved one has been injured due to the negligence of a medical professional then it is in your best interested to get in touch with our medical malpractice immediately by filling out the contact form. Our team of medical experts and legal professionals will go over the aspects of your case and work with you to get the compensation you deserve.