What to Do if Your Doctor Makes a Mistake

 

When you visit your doctor’s office or go to the hospital, you are entitled to receive quality care for your medical condition. We trust doctors with our health – and in some cases our lives – and we expect them to be experts in diagnosing and treating illnesses and injuries within their areas of practice. The law expects this as well.

Unfortunately, experience shows that doctors make mistakes just like everyone else. From misdiagnosing illnesses and injuries to failing to follow protocols during surgery, these mistakes can have drastic consequences for the patients who fall victim to their physicians’ errors. If you believe that you may be a victim of medical malpractice, you are not alone: According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, there has been an average of 50,000 reported instances of adverse actions and medical malpractice payments each year over the past 10 years. Note that these are just the reported instances—the number of unreported instances of medical malpractice is unknown, but is expected to be significantly higher.

Understanding Medical Malpractice

As long as you take the necessary steps to protect your legal rights, when you suffer an illness or injury due to a doctor’s mistake, you can seek compensation for your losses through a claim for medical malpractice. Malpractice victims are often entitled to significant financial recoveries—covering their medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, and other damages.

So, how do you prove medical malpractice? Jodat Law Group’s Medical Malpractice Attorneys in Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, Clearwater, St Petersburg, and Tampa.

Proving that Your Doctor Failed to Meet the Standard of Care

Medical malpractice claims differ from other types of personal injury claims in one key area. This is what is known as the “standard of care.”

In other personal injury cases, generally speaking, there is a uniform standard of care. Taking a car accident as an example, drivers owe a duty to exercise reasonable caution on the roads. All drivers must meet this same standard – and if they do not, they can be held financially responsible for the consequences of their actions. Whether driving on a sunny day, on a congested highway, or in a downpour, it does not matter, all drivers are held to this one standard of care.

In the medical setting, things are a little bit different.

Depending on the circumstances, doctors can actually be held to different standards of care. For example, the standard of care in an emergency room might be lower than the standard of care in an operating theater. Emergency rooms can be chaotic, and doctors often need to make snap judgments that will impact patients for the rest of their lives. When time is of the essence and doctors do not have the opportunity to conduct a thorough screening and diagnosis, the law applies a reduced standard of care. On the other hand, during a scheduled surgery – where everything should be meticulously planned and done according to protocols – the standard can be substantially higher.

Proving that Your Doctor’s Failure Caused You Harm

After establishing that your doctor failed to meet the appropriate standard of care, the next step to securing compensation is proving that your doctor’s failure caused you harm. Even if your doctor failed to meet the appropriate standard of care, if your medical condition is the result of other factors, you will not have a claim for medical malpractice.

In order to prove this “causation” at Jodat Law Group, we work closely with trusted medical experts who can help determine the cause of your illness or injury. When you meet with our doctors, it will be important to explain exactly what happened and disclose any pre-existing medical conditions. Defense lawyers and insurance adjusters will be trying to poke holes in your case, and we will need to know the full story in order to prepare to win the compensation you deserve.

Common Examples of Medical Malpractice

With this in mind, there are several types of medical errors that can give rise to claims for malpractice. Some of the most common medical malpractice claims include:

• Anesthesia errors
• Failure to diagnose
• Misdiagnosis
• Medication errors
• Surgical errors

Keep in mind, these are just examples. Regardless of what happened, if you believe that your doctor made a mistake, we encourage you to contact us for a free consultation.

Contact Jodat Law Group for a Free Consultation From Our Medical Malpractice Attorneys

At Jodat Law Group, we provide experienced legal representation for victims of medical malpractice throughout the greater Tampa, FL area with offices in Bradenton, Sarasota, Tampa and Venice. To find out if you have a claim, schedule a free consultation with one of our attorneys today.