When you seek treatment from a medical professional, you expect to receive the highest possible quality of care. Tragically, sometimes things can go wrong, leaving you alone to face the consequences.
If you think you were the victim of medical malpractice, you could have a path to take legal action. You may even be entitled to compensation. A medical malpractice lawyer serving the Largo area will be able to help you determine your options based on the details of your case.
Medical Malpractice Cases
Medical malpractice cases come in several forms. Common types of medical malpractice include:
- Errors in diagnoses: Diagnostic errors occur when a medical professional assigns the wrong illness or ailment to a patient or fails to recognize a disease in a timely manner.
- Surgical mistakes: Even for trained professionals, like surgeons with years of education and experience, mistakes can still happen. If you suffered from a surgical error, you could have grounds to file a claim against those responsible.
- Prescription or medication errors: When properly administered, many medications can be useful in treating illness, disease, pain, and other health ailments. Unfortunately, a mistake can cause harm or even death. If you were the victim of a prescription error, this could be considered medical malpractice.
- Infections: Infections could be the result of medical malpractice. If an examination room, clinic, surgical room, or other medical facility is not properly disinfected, open wounds could be exposed to dangerous bacteria. It is the responsibility of healthcare providers to maintain adequate facilities and design post-treatment regimens that prevent infection.
- Unnecessary surgeries: Surgeries can work wonders as a treatment method, but sometimes they are not entirely necessary. If you had to live through the grueling process of a surgical procedure and recovery unnecessarily, you could have a case.
- Premature discharges: You should not be discharged from a medical facility until you are able to safely return to everyday life and continue your treatment independently. If you believe an early discharge adversely affected your health you could be entitled to compensation.
Why do Professionals Make Mistakes?
Although many doctors, surgeons, and other medical professionals have a great deal of training and experience, mistakes can still occur. After all, they are still human beings with the capacity for error. There is a reason why medical providers carry medical malpractice insurance. Some common ways and reasons in which providers make mistakes include:
- Negligence or the failure to perform their duties in a professional manner
- Lack of training or experience
- Long hours or a short turnaround in-between shifts
- Distractions on the job
- Performing a new procedure or using unfamiliar technology or instruments
- Failure to listen to a patient
- Malfunctioning medical equipment
For legal consultation with a medical malpractice attorney in Largo, call (410)777-8960
Negligence and Liability
While there could be many different reasons why a mistake happened, proving that a medical provider was at fault for your suffering is essential for a legal case to be successful. One way to prove liability in a malpractice case is to provide evidence of negligence.
Negligence is the failure to act in accordance with a certain standard of care. Doctors and other professionals must adhere to the highest standard of care possible by law. If you did not receive adequate care, this negligence could be in direct breach of the law.
If you think you have a case based on negligent behavior, reviewing the details with a Largo medical malpractice lawyer can help you understand the next available steps.
Largo Medical Malpractice Attorney (410)777-8960
How Medical Malpractice Can Change Your Life
A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University found that approximately 250,000 deaths per year in the United States are the result of improper healthcare or medical errors. In addition to tragic fatalities, malpractice can cause injuries, emotional suffering, a change in your daily lifestyle, financial struggles, and more.
- Emotional suffering: Emotionally, you could experience stress, anxiety, and even the distrust of doctors, which could impact future medical evaluation. You could be left with disfiguring scars, exhausting additional visits for more treatment, and other effects that are negative to your health.
- Financial hardship: Even with insurance, medical fees can be expensive. If you suffered from medical malpractice, your treatment could be prolonged, leading to even more unnecessary bills you did not budget for. Remember that you could recover these expenses by filing a malpractice claim.
- Injuries: Medical malpractice can sometimes create new injuries or make existing injuries worse. If you were physically impacted, you may have a valid claim.
- Decreased quality of life: Between emotional suffering, injuries, financial loss, and more, your ability to enjoy your life can change after malpractice. This is unfair to you as a victim and you deserve justice.
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Available Compensation for Victims
Medical malpractice victims who successfully file a claim could recover:
- Damages for emotional suffering
- Lost wages if an injury, illness, or ailment related to malpractice results in employment changes
- Damages in tragic wrongful death cases
- Reimbursement for legal fees
- Much more
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Hiring a Lawyer to Help
If you are ready to file a claim or learn more about your options, a Largo medical malpractice lawyer can help walk you through the next steps. Other benefits could include:
- Assistance with legal paperwork
- A team available to answer your questions
- Familiarity with the claim process and the ability to explain each step along the way
- Help managing your expectations regarding compensatory amounts, payment structures, and more
- General support during this difficult time
- Much more
The bottom line is that you do not have to face the law alone, and a lawyer could be very helpful as you pursue justice for your unfair loss.
Statute of Limitations
Per Md. Cts. & Jud. Proc. Code § 5-109, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases is 5 years. This means that you have a limited amount of time to act following your malpractice incident or the onset of injuries. While this may seem like a long time, you do not want to miss out on your opportunity to collect compensation, so it could be in your best interest to act swiftly.
Contact Us Today
If you believe that you or a loved one was the victim of any form of medical malpractice, you could have a case. To learn more about your options, contact the Law Offices of Adam M. Smallow today by calling (410) 777-8960 . A team member is available to answer your questions during a free, no-obligation consultation.
Call or text (410)777-8960 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form