Healthcare providers and physicians are supposed to take care of people and save lives throughout their careers. Yet sometimes, they might make a mistake or intentionally do something that has horrible consequences.
Medical malpractice lawsuits have, unfortunately, become extremely common in the United States, and many professionals face at least one suit during their careers.
If you feel like you have been wronged by a particular medical professional, then it might be beneficial to check if you qualify for a medical malpractice lawsuit. You can check out the five most common reasons why people sue for malpractice below.
If none of them relate to your situation, then get on raphaelsonlaw.com and talk to a lawyer about your problem.
Wrong or Delayed Diagnosis
These two are the most common reason why people sue their healthcare providers.
Misdiagnosis refers to the situation where a doctor or physician says you have a particular problem when you don’t have it at all. Delayed diagnosis is when your doctor fails to reach the proper diagnosis within a reasonable amount of time.
The former is quite common for doctors trying to get you to pay for expensive treatment for an illness you don’t have. On the other hand, you might face the latter if your doctor is simply incompetent.
Childbirth Injury
Considering that the United States is a medically advanced country, it has an unusually high childbirth fatality rate.
Unfortunately, many of the women that die every year during labor were because of medical malpractice. They could have been saved if the clinic or hospital had better safety protocol, the doctors were available, or the proper issue was diagnosed on time.
Failure to Treat
Failure to treat is a little similar to a delayed diagnosis, the only fundamental difference is that your physician isn’t able to determine the proper treatment needed at all.
They may have failed to diagnose an illness or injury, which means you didn’t get the proper care. They may have ignored specific symptoms or didn’t order necessary tests. It could also include failure to refer to a specialist for treatment.
Errors in Prescribed Medication
The drug stores all over the country get a decent amount of business because much of America rely on prescription medication. That is why hearing that a patient sued their healthcare provider for medication errors is common.
These mostly include, but aren’t limited to:
- Prescribing wrong medication or dosage
- Dispensing wrong medication or dosage
- Prescribing medicine that a patient is allergic to
- Failing to give proper instructions on how to take the medicine
Inadequate Pre or Post-Op Care
Operations can be incredibly terrifying for the patients because even a small mistake in a minor procedure can have long-lasting consequences.
But if there isn’t proper care before and after the operation, then things may get really bad, really fast. That’s why doctors and medical professionals need to provide appropriate instructions to the patient before and after the surgery. Other than that, they must take care of the patients to the best of their abilities.
