Medical Malpractice
If you suffer injuries due to a doctor’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. When it comes to medical malpractice, there are several categories that a claim may fall under. Here are some of the most common types of malpractice.
Improper Treatment
Improper treatment or a failure to treat violates a doctor\’s standard of care. Many malpractice claims are filed with failure to treat as the reason. A failure to treat can refer to releasing a patient early from the hospital, failing to provide aftercare instructions, neglecting medical history when prescribing treatment or medication, or failing to odor the appropriate tests.
In many cases, doctors who prescribe the wrong treatment to patients or fail to treat a patient are overworked and balancing too many patients at once. When this happens, the doctor should refer the patient to a doctor who can provide the treatment.
Failure to Diagnose
About 33% of all claims occur because of a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis when it comes to malpractice claims. For some conditions, if you do not diagnose correctly initially, the condition can worsen and become debilitating or fatal. Patients deserve to receive proper care as quickly as possible.
A doctor may miss or ignore symptoms, fail to refer the patient to a specialist, or lose test results to misdiagnose. Since a correct diagnosis can make the difference between life and death, doctors must act professionally and make no errors in the diagnostic process.
Failure to Warn Patient
Doctors have an obligation to warn the patient of any risks associated with a procedure, medication, treatment, or test. After being provided with adequate information, the patient has to give informed consent. Medical professionals cannot decide what is best for the patient without the permission of the patient. If a treatment has serious risks and if the patient suffers damage without knowing the risk, then the doctor may be liable for the damages. Failure to warn a patient can result in heart failure, wrongful death and brain damage in some cases.
To file a medical malpractice claim, a physician has to act negligently towards a patient. The negligence results in serious damages for the patient.