If you’re sick or in pain, you depend on your doctor more than anyone else at that moment. Doctors aren’t expected to be able to cure every ailment. While they often run into situations where they can’t do anything more to help their patients, they shouldn’t do anything to make their patient’s condition worse. The thought of a doctor or another medical professional inflicting additional damage on their patients might not even cross many people’s minds. You trust that your doctor will do what they can to keep you protected. Unfortunately for many, this trust is broken by the medical professionals treating them. Medical negligence occurs often, so often that it’s one of the leading causes of death in America.
If you’ve been the victim of medical negligence in Easton, you do have legal options that can help you. At Latona Law, our lawyers specialize in medical negligence to help you get justice for what’s been done to you.
How is Medical Negligence Determined?
Any legal matter comes with complications. Many medical negligence cases, however, can be exceptionally complex. These require lawyers to not only have an in-depth knowledge of the legal field but of the medical field as well. This is why it’s so important that your lawyer specializes in medical malpractice. Mistakes can occur during treatments and procedures that cause issues for patients, but that doesn’t always mean that it’s medical neglect. In most cases, you’ll need to have a medical professional with a similar background come it to help determine whether or not medical neglect was involved.
If medical negligence did occur, the following things need to be proven:
Doctor-patient relationship – Medical negligence requires you to have had an established relationship with the medical professional. You must seek treatment from them and they accepted the responsibility of taking you on as a patient.
Duty of care – When a medical professional agrees to take on a patient, they have a legal obligation to provide them with an agreed-upon “standard of care in the medical field. This is the level of care that any other competent medical professional with a similar background would give.
Breach of duty – Breach of duty occurs when a medical professional doesn’t treat their patient with the standard of care that they deserve. A medical professional would have acted negligently for the breach of duty to occur.
Causation – If a breach of duty did occur, it must have directly caused harm to the patient. Without the breach of duty, the patient would not be in this situation.
Damages – After harm was done to the patient, it needs to have resulted in damages to them. These can be economic damages, such as medical bills, or non-economic, such as loss of enjoyment.
Common Types of Medical Negligence
Neglect can arise almost anytime a patient is under the care of a medical professional. Even if a person is only being treated for a minor, routine issue, it can quickly turn into a serious problem for the patient. While anyone can become the victim of medical neglect, there are times when it is more likely to occur. Unfortunately, we see medical neglect commonly occurring in the same settings over and over.
Here are just a few of the most common types of medical neglect:
Anesthesia errors – Errors involving anesthesia are some of the most serious types of medical neglect. Administering too much may cause brain damage, while too little will force patients to experience immense amounts of pain. If proper attention isn’t given, medical professionals will miss health problems or medication that are dangerous to mix with anesthesia. Equipment used to administer anesthesia can also be damaged and cause harm to patients.
Diagnosis errors – If a medical professional misdiagnosis a patient, they won’t be able to receive proper treatment. This can cause their condition to worsen over time. The misdiagnosis can also subject a patient to unnecessary treatment that can cause harm to them.
Prescription errors – Patients may be given a prescription for the wrong medication that will cause problems for them. Doctors may prescribe the right medication, but an unhealthy dosage of it.
Surgical errors – Errors made during surgery are some of the most easily preventable errors that can happen. During operation, a surgeon may accidentally operate on the wrong body part of the wrong patient altogether. Some equipment from surgery might be leftover in the body, such as a sponge. Without proper care during and after surgery, an infection could occur.
Damages in a Medical Negligence Case.
Experience medical negligence can cause a number of problems for victims. One of the most stressful parts of dealing with medical negligence is the financial burden it can cause. This can affect you and your family for years after and negatively impact your future. You shouldn’t have to deal with the financial stress that’s been put on your due to someone else’s negligence. If you’ve been the victim of medical neglect, you deserve compensation for the damages that have been caused. This doesn’t just include financial damages, but also non-monetary ones if you’ve been put through emotional pain.
Some of the damages from medical negligence that you can be compensated for include:
- Emotional pain and suffering
- Lower quality of life
- Loss of a spouse, or parent for minors
- Lost wages from missing work due to injury
- Medical bills from treating your injury
- Physical pain caused by a medical professional
Medical Negligence Lawyers in Easton
No one should ever have to experience medical negligence. If you have been put through this devastating experience, the lawyers at Latona Law are here to help victims in Easton. We focus entirely on medical malpractice cases to ensure that you have the experience, knowledge, and resources you need to win your case. We’re prepared to help you regain what’s been taken from you because of medical neglect.
If you or a loved one has questions or concerns regarding medical negligence, contact us for a free consultation.