Medical malpractice encompasses several issues that can profoundly affect patients. Common concerns include misdiagnosis, surgical errors, medication errors, and inadequate treatment. These problems can have serious consequences, such as prolonged suffering, worsening medical conditions, the financial burden of additional medical expenses, and emotional distress. Patients affected by medical malpractice may also struggle to obtain adequate compensation and seek justice for their ordeal.
A common example of negligence in healthcare is misdiagnosis. Either way, it prevents the patient from getting the care they need. However, not all cases of misdiagnosis reach the level of medical negligence. Malpractice only applies when another doctor with a comparable educational background and in a similar treatment situation would have made the diagnosis that the current doctor could not make and the patient suffered harm as a result of the misdiagnosis.
Another common medical error is a delay in diagnosis. In this situation, the doctor may make an incorrect diagnosis at first, but over time make the right one. To be sued for a late diagnosis, a doctor must have acted less competently than other medical professionals. To speak with a medical malpractice attorney in the state of New Mexico, call (57) 523-4444 to have Poulos & Coates review your case for free.
Contact our office or call (57) 523-4444 today to schedule an initial consultation and learn more about how we can help. Misdiagnosis or late diagnosis are by far the primary reason for negligence claims in outpatient settings. The justification for the harm suffered has to do with the fact that the patient has lost treatment opportunities, which could have prevented morbidity or mortality. In addition, a misdiagnosis could result in unnecessary treatment that could have harmful negative side effects.
For the plaintiff to win such a case, the plaintiff's attorneys must show that the doctor did not follow the proper standard of care. In other words, a competent and experienced doctor in the same situation would not have made the same decisions. Poor clinical judgment is a factor in approximately 60% of malpractice lawsuits, Ruoff says. Inadequate patient evaluation is the most common mistake in this category.
In the outpatient setting, errors often involve an inadequate anamnesis or the failure to perform an adequate physical examination. In the hospital environment, the most common errors are inadequate patient monitoring, lack of rescue, or premature discharge. According to Schaffer, practicing “defensive” medicine and ordering diagnostic tests solely to protect against malpractice lawsuits is not a good substitute for clinical judgment. Document the diagnostic process.
If your doctor discharges you too soon, doesn't refer you to a specialist, or doesn't provide you with appropriate follow-up care, you may have reason to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. The authors analyzed 153 complaints directed against 205 medical professionals and identified 15 categories of reasons for complaints, the most important related to the occurrence of complications and to the interaction between the doctor and the patient (e.g., these practices do not always benefit patients; on the contrary, they subject them to unnecessary and sometimes risky interventions, increase health care costs and decrease the level of satisfaction of doctors). Medical devices that malfunction or don't work as marketed can cause more harm to a patient or cause their death, which is reason to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Complaints are analyzed with the support of medical experts in the target medical specialty to determine whether or not patients have suffered as a result of malpractice. The capacity for interhuman relationships, in the form of communication and the doctor's attitude towards the patient, strongly influences medical practice.
A fundamental reason why patients request too many visits to emergency services is the possibility of being seen by a doctor without a referral from the family doctor or if they do not have health insurance. The first step in preventing medical malpractice accidents is to understand what is considered malpractice. In the hospital, medication errors often involve doses, but sometimes the wrong medications are administered to the wrong patient. The large number of cases in these two counties (compared to the other counties included in the investigation) is most likely due to the fact that Iasi and Galati are university centers, with clinical hospitals, which can provide a higher level of medical services and treat the most serious cases, and to which many patients from other counties in Moldova are referred from smaller hospitals.
Negligent prenatal care includes failing to diagnose a mother's medical condition, such as preeclampsia, Rh incompatibility, anemia, hypoglycemia, gestational diabetes, herpes, HIV, or lupus, that could harm or infect the fetus. In this way, the authors identified 15 categories related to aspects of the medical act itself or to the doctor-patient relationship and jointly decided to include each reason in one of the established categories.
