- By: mcsadmin
- Zappitell Law Firm
- Feb 1
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If you were injured or suffered bodily damage due to medical malpractice, you may have a case and a lawsuit on your hands. There are a few tell tale signs that can help you fully determine whether you need to take this to the next level. Zappitell Law Firm, PLLC, in Delray Beach, Florida, can assist you throughout the entire process, guiding you to make the right call for your health and future.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor, or other health care professional causes an injury to a patient, whether through a negligent act or omission. The subsequent negligence could be the result of errors in diagnosis or treatment, aftercare or health management. An estimated 225,000 people die from a form of medical malpractice each year, designating it as the third most common reason for death in the United States. And even more surprising is that only 2% of the people suffering from medical malpractice ever file for compensation.
Medical Malpractice Case
An attorney then needs to demonstrate that a healthcare professional had a duty to you as a patient, and breached that standard duty of care, whether in one or multiple ways, or that the doctor acted in a way that another reasonable, equally trained person would not have acted. And through this breach of care or error, caused harm to you as the patient.
There are three signs that typically point to some sort of malpractice, one of them being from a lack of informed consent. When you are considering a treatment or procedure, your doctor or health care provider will go over a list of symptoms, complications, and any additional information you may need to go through with the procedure. When there’s a lack of informed consent is when a doctor performs a procedure the patient didn’t agree to, or a doctor failed to sufficiently explain all the risks and benefits of the treatment. Thus if the full list of risks and benefits were told to the patient and they subsequently decided not to do the procedure or chose a different option, that is a lack of consent.
Although doctors have to explain all the foreseeable risks and benefits of a treatment to a patient, they are also not required to discuss any highly unusual risks involved. Therefore, if a patient sustains complications that are highly unusual, it may be grounds for a possible mistake during treatment. An example could be an oversight, such as during a routine operation, a sponge is accidentally left in the patient during surgery and creates complications and infection later on. Or if a doctor prescribes an antibiotic without checking your medical history, and you end up being allergic to the antibiotic, this is a mistake on the doctor’s part as you will suffer allergic reactions once you begin the antibiotic.
A healthcare provider might also realize there was a mistake in your treatment or case, and either comes forward and explains the situation to you before you notice any complications, or they may withhold the information as well. Some hospitals can be reluctant to admit they are at fault, but most will come clean as it’s ultimately the right thing to do. And regardless if they admit their fault, you can still experience complications and injury as a result. If a hospital or medical provider realizes their mistake, they may make a formal apology to you, be honest in what the error was and what the results may entail, offer compensation, conduct an investigation into the error and provide you with updates in regards to their investigation.
The Road Isn’t Easy
Navigating a medical malpractice case can be a difficult process, and is always best to seek guidance from start to finish. You will already have enough on your plate dealing with the repercussions of the incident, let alone also trying to seek justice. Knowing what constitutes a malpractice case and how you can protect yourself is a good starting point.
Contact Us
Are you wondering if your circumstances are grounds for a medical malpractice case? Let the Delray Beach offices of Zappitell Law Firm PLLC help guide you through this trying time in your life and help you rebuild your life again. Call us today!