Doctor visits happen for a wide variety of reasons including for preventative yearly exams, to keep an eye on potentially worrisome issues, for treatment of illness and harmful conditions, and for needed surgical procedures. When a poor outcome occurs, how do you know if it was inevitable or could have been prevented, i.e was a bad result due to medical malpractice?
Medical malpractice refers to instances where doctors, nurses or other medical professionals fail to act within the requisite standard of care and harm occurs. This could be the failure to diagnose a condition in a timely manner in order to provide the best treatment, or avoid a more significant injury. It also include improper and negligent treatment - such as a surgical error.
When an injury or death occurs, you may be able to file a claim for medical malpractice.
A few signs that you have a medical malpractice case include:
Results/treatment aren’t working as expected. While results can’t be guaranteed from medical treatment, if your outcome hasn’t improved or treatment isn’t working, it may be a sign that your doctor has failed to diagnose your condition correctly.
Another indication that you have been harmed by medical negligence is when surgical errors occur. Not all surgical complications are medical malpractice, where a wrong site surgery occurs, or an object - such as a sponge or clip - is left inside a patient, it’s a good idea to look at filing a medical malpractice claim.
Other indications that a mistake occurred is where you receive a second opinion that is vastly different than the first, and you have been receiving treatment based on the first opinion given. If that opinion is unsupported and you have suffered harm, this may be a sign of medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice cases are complex and require expert review. If you believe you or a loved one may have suffered harm due to medical negligence, it’s important to contact an experienced medical malpractice lawyer right away. For more information, or to speak to someone in confidence, please call the dedicated Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyers at Bostwick & Peterson, LLP for an immediate consultation.
