What Is Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice refers to when a medical worker, such as a doctor or any other professional in the field of health care, performs acts of neglect that may lead to an injured patient. Neglect can be referred to as a vague concept. Therefore, in this case, neglect refers to any error in either diagnosing a patient, carrying out the treatment of a patient, or neglect during the management of the patient’s aftercare phase. A medical malpractice lawyer in Kansas City, MO can explain this in detail as it pertains to you and your loved ones.
Forms of Medical Malpractices
Medical malpractice can take the shape of any act and can occur at any time. The first act of medical malpractice is when the doctor or the health care professional, either completely fails to give a diagnosis, gives their patient an inaccurate diagnosis, and if the doctor disregards or fails to take the patient’s medical history. The second time that it can occur is during the evaluation of the patient’s test results. A doctor who inaccurately evaluates the results or ignores the test results has committed the act of medical malpractice. In the case of surgery, if the doctor operates on a patient who did not need the surgery, then this unnecessary surgery falls under medical malpractice. The next act of medical practice is if the doctor inaccurately prescribes medicine or dosage. If the doctor does not follow up with the patient, prematurely discharges the patient, acts poorly during the aftercare phase, fails to prescribe proper and effective tests, and fails to recognize the symptoms of the patient, the doctor has then committed the act of medical malpractice.
Evidence of Medical Malpractice
If one or more acts of the above-mentioned medical malpractices occur, there has to be evidence of the act. The last piece of evidence or proof that the patient must show is that these acts have caused the patient some form of damage. These damages can be in six different forms, where there is a possibility of the patient experiencing multiple damages. Four of these six forms include whether or not the patient experienced suffering or pain, emotional distress, punitive damages, and wrongful death. The other two are described below, as they are more technical than the rest.
Medical Costs and Bills
The first form of damage is where the patient had to pay the cost, to treat the injury or disease, of the inaccurately prescribed medication, test, or surgery. These costs do not only cover all previous payments but also covers all future payments as well.
Loss of Wages
Loss of wages includes all losses experienced, by the patient, to the extent that it disregards whether or not the patient took sick days and vacations. Not only does this include the current losses, but it also includes any possible future losses that would have made the patient miss work days or would have caused the patient to lose the capacity of earning what they were earning before experiencing medical malpractice.
The consequences of medical malpractice are quite extreme for all those healthcare professionals and doctors who committed medical malpractice, as their responsibilities are quite high as well; one wrong move can lead to severe consequences for the patient.
Thanks to Royce Injury Attorneys for their insight into personal injury claims and medical malpractice.