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Some Examples Of Medical Malpractices – How To Handle Them ?

examples of medical malpractice

Let’s set a clear ground here about what comes under medical malpractices and what it does. In simple understanding, Medical Malpractice is the lack of duty, lack of standards and deviation from the accepted norms of a medical practice recognized by the law. It is professional negligence that has caused serious troubles to many individuals. A medical error can even lead to death. It becomes medical malpractice even if it’s a small injury caused due to medical negligence. To summarize let’s say that, it becomes a Medical Malpractice when the hospital in its entirety through their act of negligence, inaccuracy, and omission has resulted in serious damage to a patient’s health. Also, judgmental or diagnostic errors, wrong treatment, no proper aftercare, improper health management, medication errors and the like come under medical malpractices.

Common Examples Of Medical Malpractices

Having said about what medical malpractices are, let’s get a clear understanding further through common examples. Remember that, Medical malpractice is not specific to one thing or another as it takes many forms. Here are the common examples of medical malpractices that you should know.

  1. Misdiagnosis – one of the most common Medical Malpractice. Misdiagnosis is considered more of a Failure-To-Diagnose that leads to inappropriate treatment. It can also become a ‘No-treatment’ condition if the doctor failed to diagnose properly.
  2. Surgical Errors – It can go up to a life-threatening scenario to patients or life-long disability. Some of the most common Surgical Errors include:
  3. Damage caused to nerves, blood vessels, tissues or organs during the surgical procedure
  • No proper monitoring of vital signs leading to misdiagnosis or delayed treatments during surgery.
  • Failure to control bleeding at the right time.
  • Performing incorrect surgical procedures
  • Performing surgery out of the affected area
  • Leaving medical items inside the patient
  • Improper surgery aftercare
  1. Medication/Drug Errors – It is a serious Medical Malpractice but unfortunately it’s becoming common. It includes:
  • Wrong drugs/medication prescription
  • Illegible prescription writing
  • Not considering allergies and other conditions and just prescribing medications/drugs
  • The wrong dose or heavy dose prescribed to the patient
  • Wrong follow-ups after a course of medication
  • Under prescribing or overprescribing
  • Prescribing medicines without considering a patient’s age and other medical histories.
  1. Medical Negligence in Child Birth and related injuries – Mistakes during childbirth can affect the child even for a lifetime. Few important problems associated with childbirth include:
  • Improper Post-Natal and Pre-Natal care
  • Improper use of medical equipment during childbirth
  • Surgical errors or complications during a C-Section
  • Placental abnormalities not monitored properly
  • Oxygen deprivation to the baby
  • Inaccurate judgment leading to Wrong decision about waiting for a Normal Delivery or perform a C-Section.
  • Internal hemorrhages to mother during labor
  • Other injuries during careless childbirth procedures
  1. Anesthesia Errors – Anesthesia can be risky and that is why there are professional anesthesiologists who perform it. anesthesia-related errors can be:
  • Anesthesiologist fails to read the patient medical history clearly
  • If anesthesiologist failed to check medical records, allergies, medications and other related data about the patient
  • If the patient is not informed about safety procedures before the surgery
  • An improper dose of anesthesia- over/under
  • An age-appropriate dose of anesthesia wasn’t administered.
  • If anesthesiologist failed to monitor the anesthesia levels during the surgery
  1. Hospital Infections – A hospital is a place where you look for the solution to your medical problems. The same hospital should not be the cause to aggravate your troubles. Hospital infections and other responsibilities contribute to medical malpractices. Few important ones are:
  • Any infection that occurs up to 48Hrs after admitting in the hospital
  • Surgical-Place infections
  • ICU Infections
  • Un hygienic Hospital equipment’s
  • Respiratory infections
  • Allergens, pathogens, bacterial or viral infection upon the patients stay in the hospital

The examples of medical malpractices that we discussed here are common but important ones to be noted. Besides, there could be other medical negligence leading to medical errors.

When It Is Considered As a Medical Malpractice Claim?

To be considered as medical malpractice punishable under the law, the claim by the patient should be under a few important criteria. They are:

Remember that a health care professional or hospital violating the Standard of care is not just enough for your medical claim.

  • A patient should be given the ‘Standard of Care’ as described and accepted in the field of medicine. If the patient feels like the Standard of Care is not met or been treated negligently, and as a result, if the patient is affected the claim becomes valid.
  • If the patient proves that he/she is suffering or suffered a major injury, disability, or any permanent medical-condition/infection due to medical negligence the claim becomes valid.
  • If the patient proves that he/she could have suffered the injury due to the absence of proper medical attention and others, the claim becomes valid.
  • To get complete medical malpractice claims, the patient should explain and show the difficulties they face in terms of financial, mental, physical or any other hardships. The claim becomes valid in this scenario.

What Does Not Come Under Medical Malpractice Claim?

Knowing what makes your medical malpractice claim valid is essential. Likewise, you need to be aware of ‘what does not come under’ the claim too to get things right.

  • If the patient’s condition is untreatable like terminal illness wherein doctors and hospitals cannot do anything.
  • If the patient’s condition gets worse in time the claim becomes invalid. The reason is, there is a medical condition that can get worse even after appropriate care and treatment from the doctors and hospitals.
  • Every patient will respond to treatments differently. Despite wonderful treatment, some patients can fail to improve. Here, you cannot expect the claim to become valid for dissatisfying treatments.

How To Handle Medical Malpractice Claims?

We hope that by now you can get an idea about what medical malpractices are and what it covers. If you find yourself or your loved ones, family, friends a victim of medical malpractice, the next best step is to lawyer up. Go for board-certified medical malpractice lawyers for help. With strong backing from the law, you can easily move through the medical malpractice claim without any hassle.

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