Types of Medical Malpractice Claims

When on the lookout for legal counsel for a civil claim, you need to determine your case and whether your attorney deals in it or is a specialist. There are several medical malpractice claims. A Baltimore top medical malpractice lawyer, Peter Angelos, will discuss the most common medical malpractice claims that he also handles. 

Types of Medical Malpractice Claims

First Of All – What Is Medical Malpractice?

To put it simply, when a medical professional fails in upholding medical care standards while treating a patient, this negligence is said to be medical malpractice. It falls upon all doctors, and by extension: nurses, surgeons, anesthesiologists, not to deviate from the medical standards they took an oath to deliver. Incorrect diagnoses, neonatal and birth injuries, erroneous diagnostics are some examples of medical malpractices. 

But we’ll go into a bit of detail here. 

Birthing Injuries

Childbirth is a difficult, painful, and complicated process. Successful childbirth should be a cause for celebration for the parents and the medical staff. Birth injuries can result in a permanent problem with the baby or mother. In worse cases, it could lead to the death of either or both. These injuries can be prevented with proper training given to the medical staff and appropriate procedures. 

Error in Surgery

Even the most-simplest surgeries can go awry should the staff administering the procedure not be focused or well-prepared. Some surgical errors could create the need for further corrective or remedial surgery. With the help of a skilled surgical error lawyer, you can hold whoever bears liability for damages done to you liable. 

Erroneous Medication – Prescription

Prescribing medication may seem quite easy; it all comes down to putting your symptoms on the table and your doctor figuring out the root cause. But that isn’t so. Your doctor could misdiagnose you (more on this below). In a much similar way, your pharmacist might give you a refill of the wrong medication because both might look the same. In the case of heavy-dose, non-OTC medicines, this could mean serious damage caused, and there is no way around it but legally. 

Misdiagnoses

Even the most skilled of doctors and medical personnel could have a misdiagnosis on their hands. Many diseases have similar indicators and symptoms. Eliminating probability and determining a single-file cause of the patient’s ailment results in proper diagnosis. Incorrect diagnoses, however, can lead to inappropriate medication being administered. In cases like these, another doctor is brought on board to provide their own diagnosis to counter the misdiagnosis. This diagnosis needs to prove that the error and all it entails could have been avoided had the diagnosis been correct.

Hospital Infections

Sometimes, hospital infections could cause medical processes to become inept. This may happen involuntarily when, say, an infectious disease is contracted by an otherwise healthy person. Hospitals need to provide a safe and stable environment for all patients or those visiting them. A hospital’s inability to do so can be held accountable by filing a medical malpractice claim. 

Francis Nwokike

Francis Nwokike is the Founder and Chief Editor of The Total Entrepreneurs. A Social Entrepreneur and experienced Disaster Manager. He loves researching and discussing business trends and providing startups with valuable insights into running a profitable business. He created TTE to share ideas and tips to help entrepreneurs run and grow their businesses.