When you go to the doctor for a health concern or illness, you expect them to help you and make you feel better. Most medical procedures are routine and performed properly with beneficial results for the patient. However, sometimes health care professionals make mistakes, and those acts of negligence can have severe consequences.
Patients should never be left in worse health than before they saw their doctor, nor should they be left to face unexpected medical bills or mental or physical injuries from an act of medical malpractice. Malpractice victims often have to deal with these injuries for the rest of their lives, affecting their overall quality of life.
If you have suffered an injury or worsened illness due to the negligence of a health care provider, an experienced Baltimore medical malpractice lawyer can help. Consultations at Belsky & Horowitz, LLC are free, so contact us to discuss how a health care provider’s actions harmed you.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a physician or another health care professional neglects the standard of care. This neglect of care results in a patient suffering physical, monetary, and emotional damages, which can be devastating to both the victim and their family. The “standard of care” is commonly defined as the degree of acceptable treatment for a patient.
Medical providers must be able to determine the most appropriate treatments for known medical conditions and for managing patient symptoms. When a health care provider breaches that standard of care, it must be proven that their negligence directly resulted in injury or harm. This is where a lawyer can step in to help with the complexities of a medical malpractice case.
How Common Are Medical Mistakes in Maryland?
Unfortunately, preventable mistakes in the medical field happen every day. According to a 2022 report from the Maryland Department of Health, there were 832 adverse events in hospitals in our state during that year. An adverse event is often life-threatening and is usually the result of poorly designed processes, policies, and procedures. It’s defined as an unexpected occurrence to an individual’s medical treatment and not related to the natural course of the patient’s illness or underlying disease condition.
Data from that same report cited above shows there was a 52% increase in total adverse events when compared to data from 2021. Of the reported events, 769 were categorized as Level 1, meaning that these events resulted in the death or serious disability of a patient. There were 64 reported adverse surgical events and 375 hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI).
How Does Medical Negligence Happen?
Sometimes patients who have suffered adverse effects after being treated by their doctor or a hospital may not understand that their injuries or illness was caused by negligence. Cases like these can be complex, especially without the assistance of a knowledgeable Baltimore medical malpractice lawyer. Your attorney will investigate your claim by taking a look at how your injuries happened.
Some of the most common ways that negligence occurs in a hospital are:
Administrative Errors
Doctors, surgeons, and other specialists rely on patient records to determine the best course of action for a patient’s treatment, and they trust that the files they look at are updated and accurate. If a patient’s chart isn’t properly updated, or if hospital staff enters the wrong information for a patient, there’s a higher chance that a medical error might happen.
Inexperience
When you see a doctor or health care professional, you expect them to have the experience necessary to properly diagnose your health concern and treat you accordingly. However, there are some cases where a particular might not have the expertise to handle your specific case, and instead of consulting with a more seasoned doctor, they move forward with a treatment they are unfamiliar with, often leading to mistakes.
Drug or Alcohol Abuse
Working in a hospital is stressful and taxing on the mind and body. Hospital staff work long hours and are expected to be on their game for their entire shift, and they also see traumas and tragedy all around them. This sometimes results in certain health care workers resorting to illicit drug use or alcohol to either continue working and/or to cope with the losses and stress of the job, which in turn results in more mistakes being made.
Fatigue or Exhaustion
Hospitals are notorious for being understaffed and overworked, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that the hospital staff interacting with you may be working double shifts and not able to get enough rest to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. When health care providers are overworked, just like the rest of us, they are more likely to make mistakes.
Lack of Communication
“Communication is key”. We’ve heard this phrase before, and in the context of patient care, it’s imperative that hospital staff properly communicate with each other to maintain patient safety and ensure patients receive prompt and proper treatment. If one member of the hospital staff miscommunicates or forgets to update vital information in a patient’s chart, this could lead to mistakes and irreparable injuries.
Unsafe Environment
When we go to a hospital, either for a routine procedure or an emergent health concern, we expect to be kept safe in all aspects of our visit. From waiting in the ER waiting room to prepping for surgery, we assume that all staff members are taking the necessary precautions to maintain a sterile and accident-free environment. A hospital that doesn’t follow the proper protocols may be putting its patients’ health and safety at risk.
Whether you’ve fallen victim to the medical negligence discussed above or something else, we’re here to help. Contact us for a free case review, during which we’ll review any evidence you’ve gathered and advise you if you have a pursuable legal claim.
Types of Medical Errors That Lead to Lawsuits
When we think of medical mistakes or hospital errors, we may first think of botched surgeries or misdiagnosed illnesses. While those are perhaps some of the more commonly talked about medical malpractice cases, there are a number of other types of medical errors that can lead to lawsuits being filed.
Medical malpractice claims can stem from any of the following:
- Surgical errors
- Misdiagnosis
- Delayed diagnosis
- Medication errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Birth injuries
- Emergency room errors
- Failure to treat
- Communication errors
- Hospital infections
- Nursing home abuse or neglect
- Failure to inform patients of risks
- Urgent care center negligence
- Medical product liability
If you’ve suffered due to any of the above-mentioned errors, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice case, which we can advise you of at Belsky & Horowitz, LLC.
Who Can You Hold Liable for Medical Negligence?
Despite what you may think, it’s not only your immediate doctor or surgeon who may be responsible for the injury or worsened illness you’ve suffered but anyone on your patient care team. From our experience, any or all of the following people or entities can be held liable for a mistake that caused you harm:
- Doctors
- Surgeons
- Nurses
- Anesthesiologists
- Technicians
- Medical assistants or aids
- Other medical providers
- Hospitals
- Nursing homes
- Health care companies
As you can see, there are several individuals who could face legal ramifications during a medical malpractice case. Anyone involved in your health who owed you a duty of care can be held liable for negligent behavior that led to your injuries or worsened illness.
Establishing the elements of negligence necessary to prove liability can be challenging. However, an experienced medical malpractice attorney can help. Contact us for a complimentary, no-obligation consultation to discuss your rights.
Seeking Compensation for Your Injuries
In order to move forward with a medical malpractice case and seek compensation for damages you’ve suffered, your lawyer must first prove that the responsible party owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, and that the breach of duty directly caused your injuries which led to the damages you’re now faced with.
Once this has been determined, you and your Baltimore medical malpractice lawyer can pursue compensation relevant to your claim. Generally, compensation is paid out not only for financial (economic) losses but also for losses that may be more difficult to put a price tag on (non-economic).
Some of the most common examples of economic and non-economic losses are:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disability
- Emotional or psychological trauma
Although our legal team cannot undo the damages caused by medical malpractice, we can assist you in fighting for the compensation you deserve so that you can focus on healing and moving forward with financial security.
Why Hire a Qualified Baltimore Medical Malpractice Attorney?
Navigating the legal process of a medical malpractice claim is complex and time-consuming, which is why it’s essential to have the guidance of a qualified medical malpractice attorney on your side. At Belsky & Horowitz, LLC, we can assist you with your case by gathering the evidence necessary to establish liability and damages.
Your attorney will also ensure that your claim is filed properly and within the Maryland statute of limitations. Under Maryland Code 5-109, victims of medical malpractice have five years from the date of their injury or three years from the date of discovery of their injury (whichever comes first) to file a claim. There are some exceptions to this statute, which our attorneys can help you understand.
We place our trust and our lives in the hands of our doctors, and we expect them to act in a manner that benefits our health concerns and illnesses. No one should have to suffer from financial or emotional stress due to the negligent behavior of a health care provider. If you or someone you know has been harmed by medical malpractice, contact our Baltimore firm today for a free consultation. We will help you every step of the way and will fight for the compensation you deserve.
