When you’re seeking medical treatment for an injury or illness, you trust your doctor to treat the ailment to the best of their ability—and you won’t walk away with more injuries than when you started. If the professional caring for you makes a mistake or acts negligently, your health could be put in jeopardy. The injuries you incur from this error could prolong your recovery time and require expensive medical care. It’s important for victims to have people who will stand up for them and hold the negligent people accountable for their actions. An experienced Glen Burnie medical malpractice lawyer from Belsky & Horowitz, LLC can help you fight for your rights.
Analyzing medical reports, gathering evidence of what happened to you and how you were harmed, and getting an expert witness to give their professional opinion about your care are all important tools our firm will use in your medical malpractice case. Our lawyers in Glen Burnie are prepared to take your case to trial if that’s what it takes to get you the justice you deserve. As you begin your case, you may be wondering how your injuries happened. Let’s take a look at what can result in medical malpractice.
Medical Malpractice Can Occur in a Variety of Ways
Negligence may be the root of your injuries. Part of our job is to figure out how a medical care provider acted negligently. The mistake that harmed you may fall into one of the following categories:
- Staff Errors
- Procedural Errors
- Hospital Errors
A staff error could refer to a mistake made by a doctor or nurse while administering care. For example, if you go to the doctor and explain your symptoms, they’re supposed to use tests and other methods to rule out illnesses or injuries you don’t have so they can figure out what’s wrong and begin treating it. They may miss an important symptom or think you have something that you do not, resulting in a failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis. You may begin treating an illness you do not have, which can allow what’s ailing you to go untreated and possibly worsen.
If this occurs in the emergency room where a person is having difficulty breathing or experiencing chest pains, they should be seen immediately regardless of the number of patients in front of them. Patients with potentially life-threatening symptoms may suffer more injuries if the E.R. delays their medical attention. In the worst cases, this can result in death.
Then there are procedural errors that can occur in hospitals. When someone undergoes surgery, there are supposed to be protocols for pre-op, operative, and post-op care. This ensures the patient’s safety and they get the treatment they need. If there aren’t protocols in place, surgical errors can occur.
A common issue is wrong-site surgery, where the surgeon performs the wrong procedure on a patient or does the surgery on the wrong body part. Wrong-site surgeries happened in about 1 per 113,000 operations between 1985-2004. Surgeons can also make the mistake of leaving medical tools and sponges inside a patient. If this happens, the patient will likely experience pain and the area could get infected. They will need to have another surgical procedure to remove the object. Undergoing another surgical procedure because of a mistake can be nerve-wracking and will also require more recovery time.
Anesthesia is also typically a part of surgical procedures. The patient needs to be given the correct dosage of the correct medication—if a patient gets an incorrect dose, they may experience complications during or after surgery. Too little anesthesia could result in a patient waking up during surgery, which can be terrifying for the patient. An overdose of anesthesia could harm the patient’s brain and they may have difficulty waking up after surgery. If a patient is given anesthesia that was meant for someone else, they could have a reaction that causes more health complications. Any medication error can have life-threatening consequences.
Sometimes, errors can occur because of a negligent facility. The hospital needs to take preventative measures so patients won’t be put at risk while they’re there. Infection and disease can spread quickly in a hospital that doesn’t keep up with sanitation and safe practices. Those in a hospital who are immunocompromised may be more susceptible to contagious illnesses like the flu.
There could also be poor communication about the status of a patient between those taking care of them. If everyone isn’t on the same page, the patient could possibly not get the care they need.
These cases require careful investigation and expertise. A Glen Burnie medical malpractice lawyer from our firm will find out what went wrong and how. We’ll also gather evidence of your injuries you suffered after the medical error. With this information, we’ll begin to build your case.
Why Do Medical Malpractice Errors Occur?
When you’ve been harmed because of a medical professional, knowing how the malpractice occurred can be important for your case. There are some common reasons why medical malpractice happens.
- Inexperience
- Record Errors
- Fatigue
Inexperienced doctors or nurses may not have the training or skills required to perform certain tasks. They may be asked to do something outside of their area of knowledge or may still need more training before they’re prepared to help the patient. There’s also the chance the medical professional believes they know how to treat what is ailing their patient when they should have referred them to a specialist who will be able to give them the care they need.
There are often multiple people who care for a patient. You may have a number of people attending to you when you’re in the hospital. Shift changes also mean new people will be caring for you. Many professionals need to be up to date and on the same page about your health. To do this, medical professionals will refer to your chart. If someone didn’t take a note of something or puts down incorrect information, someone could make a mistake that puts your health and wellbeing in danger.
Medical professionals may also suffer from fatigue and exhaustion. If they’re working overtime or pulling double shifts, they’re likely not getting the rest and break between work that they need. When someone is fatigued, they’re more likely to make a mistake. Overworking can also cause burnout. Medical professionals work in a stressful environment—when this stress becomes overwhelming, they could overlook important details, forget to do something, and this results in harm to the patient. In some cases, medical professionals may turn to other methods of dealing with this stress like drugs or alcohol. If a medical professional was intoxicated or under the influence while they treated you and made a mistake, our lawyers will hold them accountable.
While there are reasons why medical mistakes happen, they are not excuses. If you were harmed because of negligence from a medical care provider, you can take measures to seek justice. Because these cases are incredibly complex, having a Glen Burnie medical malpractice lawyer at your side can help you with your claim.
The Damages of Medical Malpractice
Because of the myriad ways malpractice can occur, you could be facing a long road to recovery. You may have sustained further injury, could have contracted an infection, or suffered an allergic reaction. These will all require treatment and time before you’re healed again.
When you’re recovering from a medical error, you’re going to need to afford the proper care. This can result in more medical bills, time away from work, and you’re going to have to trust your doctors to help you regain your health. This can be incredibly difficult to deal with on your own. Let’s take a look at how representation from Belsky & Horowitz, LLC can benefit you.
Our Experience in Medical Malpractice Cases Can Help You Recover
When you’ve been hurt because of a medical professional’s negligence, our firm can help you fight for the compensation you deserve. A Glen Burnie medical malpractice attorney from our firm will know which laws will apply to your case and what you’ll need to prove in your case. In most medical malpractice cases, you will have to establish that the medical professional was supposed to treat you within the standard of care, they failed to act within the standard of care, their actions caused a medical error, and the medical error resulted in your injuries and losses.
A medical malpractice case will often need testimony from a medical expert who is qualified to give their professional opinion on whether or not your doctor deviated from the standard of care. Our firm will find an appropriate witness who can provide insight into how your treatment was negligent and your injuries could have been prevented if the medical care provider had acted differently.
Our lawyers will make sure your compensation reflects the economic damages of the mistake. These damages are for the financial losses you’ve suffered. The medical expenses you’ve incurred to treat the injury or illness are considered economic damages. If your injury or illness will require future care, your lawyer will fight for you to recover these damages as well.
The time you’ve spent in the hospital and recovering at home may have resulted in missing work. These lost days of pay weren’t your fault and you shouldn’t have to suffer these financial losses for a mistake that was preventable. We’ll calculate the work you’ve missed and may need to miss in the future for you to be fairly compensated for those lost wages.
There is another side to the damages you may recover: noneconomic losses. These losses cover the other consequences of the medical error. Trusting a medical professional with your health and it resulting in an injury or illness is a traumatic experience. You may experience painful symptoms and have suffered because of their mistake. If the medical error has a long recovery period, you may experience loss of enjoyment of life. While this may not have an effect on your finances, they are still significant complications you had to live with because of another person’s negligence. Our medical malpractice attorneys will take all of the above into account when determining the compensation you’re owed.
Seek Justice With Belsky & Horowitz, LLC
When you’ve been harmed by a medical professional, it’s important to act quickly. You want to have trusted representation at your side when you’re coming forward with a medical malpractice claim. We’ve held negligent medical professionals accountable for their mistakes in the past. When you come forward, you’re showing them how their actions and negligence were unacceptable and cannot happen again.
Belsky & Horowitz, LLC is prepared to advocate for you and demand you get fair compensation. We’ll go over what happened to you and discuss the options you have so you can begin to move forward. Start your legal journey and contact us today.
