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Why Are Medical Malpractice Cases So Complex?

Published on Dec 5, 2018 at 7:07 pm in Medical Malpractice.

Medical malpractice cases are often complex because they involve an injured person who is seeking financial compensation from a health care provider who allegedly acted negligently and caused the person’s injuries or harm. Investigating what happened, how, and why can take a great deal of time and state and federal laws may affect the case. The institution or hospital’s insurance legal department will also become involved in the lawsuit.

What Necessitates Medical Malpractice in Maryland?

There may have been times when you have had a negative experience with a medical professional. It could be from a standard checkup or with the administration of a hospital. But just because you had a bad experience doesn’t mean that you have a valid medical malpractice case.

Medical negligence can happen in a number of ways. Valid cases usually involve a trusted medical professional acting in a way that causes harm to their patient. Negligence can lead to situations like surgical errors, for instance, which is when a surgeon performs an operation on the wrong area, on the wrong patient, or leaves medical tools and sponges inside the surgical site.

A doctor may also fail to recognize symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, which are medical events that can possibly be fatal. There could be an administrative error that results in a patient getting the wrong dosage of medicine or given another patient’s medicine.

These mistakes cause injuries that are painful, can cause infections, and will need to be treated in order for you to get better. You may need to undergo another surgery to remove items left there or to fix something that went wrong. Your recovery may require you to miss more work, take medication, or require future treatment like rehabilitation and physical therapy.

To file your claim, you need to be able to prove several points. At its core, you have to be able to prove that your healthcare provider acted negligently or incompetently, and their actions caused you to get injured. It will need to be proven that another healthcare provider would have reasonably acted differently in the situation and made a decision that would have prevented the harm you’ve suffered.

Your lawyer will calculate the costs of your injuries and what your treatment will cost, along with additional damages like lost wages, loss of earnings, and pain and suffering. You’ll then start to work on settling the case so your compensation will help cover these costs.

What Else is Involved in a Medical Malpractice Case?

Your case may also depend on an expert witness. These are people who have similar training and work in similar fields as the negligent health care provider who injured you. The expert witness will be able to point out how they would have acted differently than the negligent party and how that would have prevented your injuries. Both sides may have expert witnesses that will provide testimony and argue whether malpractice actually occurred.

Whether or not your case goes to trial, it will require a great deal of evidence, witness accounts, and medical records. The opposing defendant will represent the individual and/or facility your case is against and they will likely have an entire legal department backing the defendant. This fact additionally makes malpractice suits complex.

A lawyer can help you find out if you have a valid medical malpractice case and in the future if you should settle or push to go to trial. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to call our Maryland office and schedule a free consultation.

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