When you go to the doctor, you want to believe you’re getting the best care possible. You probably don’t make an appointment expecting to leave the office more seriously injured than when you came in. But every day, doctors and other medical professionals injure patients due to negligence or incompetence.
Known as medical malpractice, this represents a failure to provide quality, competent care. Some types of malpractice can impact patients for the rest of their lives.
Whether you’ve suffered only minor injuries or your entire life has been turned upside down, different types of medical negligence can entitle you to compensation.
At Gerling Law Injury Attorneys, we’ll help you understand the seven most common medical malpractice claims. We’ll walk you through what your options may be if you’ve been a victim of any of these types of medical malpractice. And most importantly, we’ll explain how to get in touch with us for a free case consultation.
1. Birth Injuries
Birth injuries are every parent’s nightmare and one of the most common malpractice claims in Indiana.
Perhaps your obstetrician’s prenatal care was inadequate, despite your best efforts to get information and treatment. Maybe your doctor committed different types of medical negligence during childbirth, causing harm to mom or baby. Birth injuries can be life-altering for new families.
2. Misdiagnosis
Some of the most common medical negligence cases come from medical misdiagnosis. Misdiagnosis is considered medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis deprives sick patients of potentially lifesaving treatment. Healthy patients receive treatments they don’t need.
However, malpractice occurs only if the doctor failed to do what other doctors would do in a similar situation and, as a result of this failure, the patient was harmed. Check with a medical malpractice lawyer if you think you’ve been harmed by medical misdiagnosis.
3. Delayed Diagnosis or Failure to Treat
Similar to misdiagnosis, in delayed diagnosis situations, the doctor makes an incorrect diagnosis at first but the patient is eventually correctly diagnosed. The delay causes the condition to become worse or even fatal.
For these cases to qualify as types of medical malpractice, a doctor must have assessed a patient less competently than other doctors would have. Typically, this can be proved by failure to order a test or recommend a treatment that would reveal the correct diagnosis.
In this same vein, some types of medical negligence involve situations where a doctor correctly diagnoses a condition but fails to recommend an adequate treatment.
Known as failure to treat, this is becoming a serious issue in modern medical practices. In these practices, doctors are under pressure to spend less and less time with patients. Saving time can have fatal consequences.
4. Medication Errors
Many of the most common malpractice claims involve medication errors. Often, this comprises situations where a doctor has prescribed the wrong drug or dosage. In addition, a pharmacist may misread a prescription and provide the wrong medication to the patient.
While you should always check your prescription label before you take your pills, it’s not your fault if your doctor negligently prescribes dangerous medication! Speak with a lawyer about what your rights are.
5. Surgical Errors
People often think that because a patient signed a consent form acknowledging the risks of complications or even death, they can’t sue for surgical errors.
Common medical negligence cases are rarely derailed by the fact that you signed a surgical consent. Simply because a doctor tells the patient that there are risks during a knee replacement does not mean, for example, that the doctor can replace the wrong knee.
6. Anesthesia Errors
When an anesthesiologist makes an error, it can cause a patient brain damage or even death. In fact, many types of medical malpractice lawsuits arise out of anesthesia gone wrong.
If a loved one is having surgery and the anesthesiologist fails to thoroughly review their file, resulting in injury or even death, you may be entitled to significant compensation. If you’re injured by anesthesia in any capacity, speak with a medical malpractice attorney as soon as you can.
7. Medical Device Failure
With certain types of medical negligence, it’s not merely the medical providers who can be held responsible. In situations where a patient receives an implant or medical device and the patient is injured, both the device manufacturer and the doctor may be liable for the injury.
If your doctor knew about the defect in the implant and decided to put it in your body anyway, this can be one of the most serious types of medical malpractice.
What Should I Do If I’m a Victim of Medical Malpractice?
The list above isn’t comprehensive and it’s not exhaustive. There are many types of medical malpractice and medical negligence. Medical malpractice doesn’t just happen in hospitals and clinics—it can happen anywhere you’re treated by a member of the medical profession.
If you’re concerned that you’ve been a victim, it’s extremely important to speak with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer right away. Not only can a lawyer help you get the treatment you need to get back on the path to physical recovery, they can help get you on the road to financial recovery as well.
How Gerling Law Injury Attorneys Can Help
At Gerling Law Injury Attorneys, we’re a team of experienced personal injury attorneys with a background in medical malpractice law. We’ve been helping folks around the greater Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky area get back on their feet after all types of medical negligence.
If you’re concerned that you’ve been a victim of medical negligence and you’re not sure where to turn, contact us today for a free case consultation. We’d be happy to see how we can help you.
Go with Experience. Go with Gerling. ®
