Medical Malpractice – A Brief Guide for You

Medical Malpractice – An Overview

Most people only have a vague idea about what medical malpractice means, but they don’t understand things from a legal standpoint. On that note, when it comes to looking at things from the legal perspective, medical malpractice essentially includes the aspects that establish the fact that a doctor or medical staff has deviated from something that is set as the standard for healthcare. 

The doctor or medical staff didn’t follow protocol and stick to what should have been expected from them but turned to something else that didn’t fall into the standardized categories. 

In simpler words, medical malpractice, according to legislation, occurs when a medical professional does something that any other normal and logical medical professional wouldn’t do. In the same way, medical negligence is when the medical professional fails to perform a procedure or do something that they should have done. 

What Are Some Examples of Medical Negligence?

One of the most common things to see in medical negligence cases is the case where the medical professional failed to assess an illness. The typical scenario is when a patient arrives at the emergency room and complains about the symptoms that they are experiencing. 

Now, in an ideal case scenario, the doctor should be looking at a different diagnosis, which includes serious conditions. Sometimes, the medical professional might miss the signs of the serious conditions, which then leads to serious harm – even death. 

When Insurance Is Involved

There are also instances when someone who has insurance is treated differently from someone who doesn’t. For instance, if someone has insurance, the hospital might run all sorts of tests on them to establish the illness. On the other hand, if someone doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have a good insurance policy, the medical staff or hospital might skip a few tests, which then might cause them to miss something. 

It is important to mention here that we live in a time when we talk about overbilling and overtaking a lot. Usually, failure to do the tests can result in serious harm. 

On that note, sometimes, someone who doesn’t have the means to afford certain tests and subsequently doesn’t get them done – can result in serious harm, too. 

Bad Outcome vs. Medical Malpractice

Now, sometimes, with medical procedures, especially where there are potential risks involved, there can be bad outcomes, which are different from medical malpractice. You should know that medicine is not only a science but also an art. 

This aspect indicates that sometimes things can go wrong. Even the best doctors in the world cannot save everyone – unfortunately. So, there can be a case where someone goes in for surgery and gets a very serious infection. Despite the doctor’s best efforts, infections can still happen in patients. 

Of course, one can give all potential tests, but even the best healthcare professionals, such as radiologists in the world, can miss certain conditions. Much of this also has to do with the fact that medicine and science are still developing, and the world of medicine hasn’t caught up to where it would ideally be. 

Why to Get a Lawyer First 

Now, you might be wondering about how and whether or not an average person is expected to tell right away whether or not they are dealing with a medical malpractice case or bad outcome. How can they know whether they need somebody with expertise to help them?

Here is the thing: if you feel like you have been at the receiving end of medical malpractice, the best thing you can do is to talk to a medical malpractice lawyer and an experienced one, who will sit down with you and get into the details of the case to determine what you are dealing with. 

Now, the best thing you can do is to talk to an attorney who specializes in medical negligence cases because even attorneys can miss the difference between a bad outcome and negligence. 

The Lawyer Works with A Medical Team 

It is important to mention here that in many states, lawyers are required to have a doctor sign the documents of a medical malpractice case before the lawyer can file it. Why, you might ask? Well, the answer is that a lawyer is just a lawyer, and they might not know what the standards are in the medical field and what a good doctor does or doesn’t do. 

On that note, if a medical negligence lawyer has a case and the case is that of a bad outcome in surgery, the chances are high that the lawyer might turn over the case to an expert witness. Ideally, the expert witness will be a surgeon in that particular type of procedure, and the lawyer will ask whether the case is a bad outcome or a solid deviation from the standards. 

You get the point – the lawyer alone is in no position to assess the case because they will need a medical expert or a team of medical experts to give their expert opinion on the matter. Only once they are absolutely sure that it is indeed a medical negligence case will the lawyer agree to take your case to court. 

Only Go to Expert Lawyers Specializing in Medical Negligence 

You might be wondering whether or not you need to pay any money out of your pocket to find out whether or not you have a case. You should know that any good lawyer who does these types of cases regularly will never ask their clients to find the case expenses.

If you visit a professional lawyer who deals with medical negligence cases, they will have enough experience in these cases, and they can have a pretty good idea about whether something is a bad outcome or a case of negligence.