In the United States, each year at least 250.000 people die because of preventable medical mistakes and related negligence. Such figure makes this situation the third-leading cause of fatality in the country, surpassing other severe illnesses.
Any act of medical carelessness, neglect or inattention that lead a patient being injured is consider medical malpractice, at the same time fitting as a personal injury.
As such, the victim has the right to claim for compensation, in order to cover suffering, pain, medical expenses and life-altering conditions directly given from the negligent medical act. By getting the assistance of a personal injury lawyer, proving the injury, making a case and filing the lawsuit to claim for fair settlement will be possible.
What is medical malpractice?
In details, medical malpractice refers to any situations given in a hospital, healthcare facility or similar where patients get injured, due to negligence by medical doctors or carelessness of the related institution that is providing care.
Since the resulting injury is someone else´s fault and consequences lead to personal harm directly caused by negligence, medical malpractice falls under Personal Injury Law or Tort Law.
Therefore, the personal injury victim, in this case the medical malpractice victim is entitled to receive financial compensation and related benefits.
Financial return must be commensurate with the injuries and resulting short, mid and long-term sequels, such as wage loss, life-altering conditions, suffer, pain, philological trauma, medical expenses and more.
Now, to file a lawsuit and request a claim to the at-fault party – in this case the doctor, hospital or health care facility – the patient needs to prove and give actual evidence of the negligent act and its result in causing injuries. This is when the personal injury lawyer comes in.
Assistance of personal injury lawyers in medical malpractice
The personal injury attorney is the professional of the law that is able to help tort victims, in claiming what they fairly and legally deserve after suffering medical malpractice acts.
In fact, there are medical malpractice lawyers who handle this type of cases only, covering expertly every aspect of the Tort Law to provide the best defense and achieve a settlement with maximum compensation.
To do it, personal injury lawyers come up with strong cases based on actual medical evidence, counting on with the support of qualified and licensed medical practitioners who can prove the defendant´s fault in the case.
To begin with, the lawyer will build and establish the case by meeting and proving important criteria that must be given. This is done by showing evidence of three different situations:
- Failing in providing acceptable health care.
- Acting with negligence respecting addition or omission of medical procedures while diagnosing, advising or treating the patient.
- Resulting injuries, illnesses or conditions that even worsen the patient´s health.
Meeting the criteria aforementioned above and giving actual proofs of their existence will allow the lawyer to build a strong case, worthy of filing a lawsuit and ask for personal victim´s legal rights and benefits they are entitled to, such as compensation.
The most common medical malpractice cases are: improper treatment, prescription mistakes, surgical errors, birth injuries, misdiagnose and equipment misuse, to name a few.
