Healthcare providers, doctors, and hospital staff have a duty of care that they are responsible for when it comes to their patients. When that duty of care is not met for whatever reason, it is essential that patients have a medical malpractice lawyer on their side.
While your professional medical malpractice lawyer in Michigan is intimately familiar with the various situations that constitute medical malpractice, you may be confused about the process of determining whether you have a claim.
The following are five common situations in which you should always seek the help of a medical malpractice lawyer.
1. Surgical Errors
Errors that take place during surgery account for nearly one-third of the cases medical attorneys handle.
The most common errors in surgery include performing the surgery at the wrong site or on the wrong patient and using unclean or otherwise contaminated surgical tools.
Additionally, injuries to other parts of the body that result during the procedure are another common issue. Surgical errors that cause injury during the procedure can include nerve and organ damage, which can affect a patient’s quality of life post-surgery and even be life-threatening.
2. Anesthesia Errors
An anesthesiologist monitors the patient during surgery and administers the right combination of drugs to safely put the patient to sleep.
A major component of this work includes considering the patient’s complete medical history and anticipate any potential problems that could occur during the surgery. Miscalculation, mistakes, and failure to procure adequate medical records during this point in the process can be potentially fatal for patients. They can also lead to other adverse side-effects that affect their life quality post-procedure, such as brain damage, heart damage, and complications with blood pressure, among a host of other issues.
Common anesthesia errors can include administering too much or too little anesthesia, delaying the delivery of anesthesia, failing to prevent or recognize adverse drug reactions, defective equipment, and failing to provide proper instructions to patients concerning the delivery of anesthesia, among others.
3. Misdiagnosis
Though misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a condition is more common in an outpatient setting, such as a clinic or an emergency room, it still accounts for a whopping 31% of medical malpractice cases that malpractice lawyers in Michigan handle.
The prevalence of misdiagnosis is due to various factors. First, these cases are more common in outpatient settings because the patient is not typically known to the clinician and the clinician may not know their full or accurate medical history. In some cases, misdiagnosis can also be due to the medical professional failing to follow the appropriate diagnostic guidelines.
Patients with the wrong diagnosis can be severely impacted. They may be administered the wrong medication or even end up undergoing unnecessary surgeries while the actual illness continues to develop and worsen.
4. Medication Errors
Reports estimate that medication errors cause one fatality per day and 1.3 million injuries in the U.S. every year. In fact, medication mistakes are so common that the World Health Organization was compelled to take action and introduce an initiative to reduce these incidents in 2017.
Issues with medication occur when healthcare providers fail to prescribe the proper dosage, diagnose improper medications for the ailment, or administer inaccurate information concerning use to the patient.
Again, these errors can be debilitating and even life-threatening for a patient and lead to various other health issues.
5. Birth Injuries
OBGYN medical malpractice is yet another unfortunate reality in the medical field, and clinicians in this specialty are more likely to face medical malpractice cases than any other specialty.
Birth injuries can include injuries to the baby and mother during childbirth that resulted from the physician’s inability to perform to the appropriate level of care.
The Takeaway
Medical malpractice can be an emotional, frightening, and extremely stressful time for you and your loved ones.
Add in the difficulty of understanding the legal process and the options that you have in your medical malpractice claim, and you can see how it is important to contact lawyers specializing in medical malpractice cases to help you get the settlement you are due.