4 Situations That Could Fall Under the “Medical Malpractice” Category

Medical professionals aren’t perfect, and sometimes mistakes are made. Unfortunately, it often happens to the dismay of a suffering patient. While some situations don’t end up being considered medical malpractice, there are plenty of others that do. The following are four situations that may be considered malpractice, depending on the specific circumstances.

A Misdiagnosis

If a patient is diagnosed with one disease, but actually has another, he or she will not seek the proper treatment for the actual condition. When a doctor misdiagnoses a patient, there can be serious consequences for that patient. If the doctor failed to diagnose in a way that any other similar professional would reasonably diagnose in, the case could be considered malpractice. If the doctor did everything correctly and arrived at the wrong conclusion without negligence or recklessness, there may be no case for medical malpractice.

The Failure to Treat

Sometimes a doctor simply has too many patients, which is known as putting his or her profits over the safety of the patients. These situations are dangerous for the patients because although the doctor arrives at the right diagnosis, he or she may be so bogged down by cases, his or her patients do not receive proper treatment. This can be considered negligence because the doctor will fail to provide a basic standard of care than any other physician would have provided that patient.

A Surgical Error

The risks associated with surgery, are not permission for a surgeon to fail to provide a certain level of care. Surgeons are trusted with people’s lives, and when they make a mistake that could have been avoided, they may end up in a malpractice case. Some situations may include leaving an instrument inside the patient, performing a surgery that was unnecessary, not offering accurate aftercare, damaging an organ that shouldn’t have been touched and other similar situations.

A Medical Product Failure

There are cases in which a medical professional does everything right, but a product fails. Patients can take their medical malpractice case against the company that made the product. This may include an object breaking during surgery and causing an injury, a device that doesn’t provide the health benefits it claims to provide, or a product that has the opposite effect it should have.

Learning More About Medical Malpractice

While these are a handful of some common medical malpractice cases, there are a lot of other situations that might fall in that category. Contact a medical malpractice attorney, like medical malpractice lawyer in Miami, FL, today to find out if you have a case.

 

Thank you to the law firm of Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. for their insight into medical malpractice and the law.