When you aren’t feeling well, whether it be a minor or severe problem, you expect that your doctor will be there to help you.
Your doctor should be the one person you should be able to trust, but what happens when their neglect creates a dangerous situation for you? Unfortunately, this is the case for many people. Medical professionals act negligently and harm their patients every day. One of the leading causes of death in America is medical negligence. Those who have suffered from medical negligence may experience complications from it for the rest of their lives. If you’re a victim of this, know that you aren’t alone.
No one should ever have to worry that their doctor will cause additional harm to them. As a patient, you deserve to feel safe under your doctor’s care. Victims of medical neglect in Allentown can get help from the lawyers at Latona Law. We believe in holding doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals accountable.
How is Medical Negligence Determined?
Proving whether or not medical negligence occurred is an extremely difficult task. A doctor could make a mistake when they’re treating their patients, but that doesn’t always mean that it’s medical negligence. Without a vast knowledge of medical negligence, differentiating a mistake and neglect can be impossible. A trained attorney will need to look closely at as many details as your case as possible to be able to determine if medical neglect was involved. In many cases, experts in the medical field will have to be brought in to help assess whether or not someone was negligent towards their patient.
If medical negligence did occur, the following five things need to be true:
Doctor-patient relationship – First, you need to be able to show that you had an established relationship with the medical professional. You must have employed the medical professional and they would have to had agreed to treat you.
Duty of care – Medical professionals are legally required to treat their patients with a “standard of care” that is agreed on for that situation. Any other competent medical professional with a similar background would have to agree or disagree that they would have acted the same way in a similar situation.
Breach of duty – Breach of duty occurs when a medical professional’s care fell below the standard of care that the patient should have received.
Causation – If the medical professional acted negligently, their actions should have directly caused harm to the patient. The medical professional’s actions need to be the root cause of the patient’s problem.
Damages – A patient who has sustained harm from a medical procedure to show that it caused damages to them. Damages from medical negligence can include monetary damages, like medical bills, or non-economic ones, such as loss of enjoyment
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Common Types of Medical Negligence
Any time that medical negligence occurs, the results can be devastating for victims and their families. Medical negligence can arise during any treatment or procedure, no matter how small or it may initially seem. But certain types of medical negligence occur more regularly than others.
The following are some of the most common types of medical malpractice:
Anesthesia errors – Errors made when administering anesthesia are among some of the most dangerous examples of medical negligence. If a patient receives too much anesthesia, it could result in damage to the brain and throughout the rest of the body. On the other hand, too little anesthesia could cause the patient to be awake during the procedure. Equipment used to administer anesthesia could be damaged as well and cause injury.
Diagnosis errors – If a patient isn’t properly tested or listened to, a diagnosis could be left out or the patient could be misdiagnosed with a different condition. This can cause a patient’s condition to worsen or subject them to unnecessary treatment that could cause harm.
Prescription errors – When filling out a prescription, a doctor may prescribe the wrong medication or the wrong dosage. If a patient is administered medication in a hospital or doctor’s office, they could be mistakenly given the wrong one.
Surgical errors – Most errors that happen during surgery are referred to as “never events” because they should never happen and can be easily prevented with adequate care. Surgeons may operate on the wrong body part or the wrong patient. In some cases, they leave surgical equipment in the patient’s body when they close up the surgical site.
Damages in a Medical Negligence Case.
In addition to the pain and stress you’ve dealt with due to medical neglect, you might also be feeling the pressure of the expenses that come with it. You should not have to live the rest of your life with financial burdens due to someone else’s careless actions. Receiving compensation for what you’ve been put through can help you regain control of your life. Not only are you entitled to compensation for financial damages, but you also have non-economic damages, such as a loss of enjoyment due to injury.
Some of the damages you can be compensated for include:
- Emotional pain and suffering
- Decreased quality of life
- Loss of a spouse, or parent for minors
- Lost wages from missing work due to injury
- Physical pain caused by a medical professional
- Medical bills from treating your injury
Medical Negligence Lawyers in Allentown
Most people who work in the medical field are already equipped with a legal team in the event that they’re accused of medical negligence. Because of this, you need to have work with an expert medical negligence lawyer. At Latona Law, we work on only medical negligence cases, so we’re prepared to go up against doctors, nurses, and hospitals. Our knowledge, experience, and resources are what you need to win your case. We’re ready to fight for the victims of medical neglect in Allentown and help you get the justice you deserve.
Dealing with medical negligence is a difficult time for anyone. Contact us for a free consultation to go over any questions or concerns you have regarding medical neglect.