Howard County Medical Malpractice: The Basics
Medical malpractice occurs when someone has been injured while under the care of a nurse, doctor or healthcare professional due to that healthcare professional’s deviation from the accepted standard of care. The standard of care means the degree of skill, knowledge and expertise that a healthcare professional should possess in a given field of medicine for a certain geographical region. To discover more information about these types of cases and how they can proceed, contact our Howard County medical malpractice lawyer immediately and schedule a consultation.
Elements of Howard County Medical Malpractice Cases
In order to prove a medical malpractice case in Howard County against a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional you will need to show that while under the care of a doctor, nurse or healthcare professional, you were injured due to that doctor’s deviation from the accepted standard of care. This means that while treating you, the doctor failed to exercise the skill, knowledge and expertise that is expected to be possessed by a healthcare professional in your geographic region. You will need to prove that your injuries were directly and causally related to the doctor’s deviation from the standard of care. Finally, you will need to prove the severity, extent, and duration of your injuries.
Common Forms of Malpractice
There are several different kinds of medical malpractice that a patient can experience. Some of the more common include a misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose an injury or disease, surgical mistakes, emergency room mistakes, and obstetrical errors. To be clear, a bad result from a surgical procedure or a painful side effect does not in and of itself mean there is a valid claim for medical malpractice. For an act to rise to the level of a medical malpractice there needs to be a deviation from the accepted standard of care. It’s helpful to speak with a Howard County medical malpractice attorney if you have further questions about types of malpractice.
Line Between Medical Mistake & Malpractice in Howard County
There is a clear difference between a medical mistake and an act of medical malpractice. Even though there are clear differences, a Howard County medical malpractice lawyer will be able to help you distinguish if your case qualifies as as malpractice. In medicine there are natural and resultant risks and side effects of certain treatments or procedures. For example, an anticipated complication or risk of a cervical spine fusion is temporary nerve pain. Depending on the extent of the nerve damage and the steps taken during the surgical procedure, this may be a medical mistake instead of medical malpractice. In order to determine if something constituted an act of malpractice you will need your own medical expert to review what was done and what was not done by the defendant doctor. Then compare their actions to the accepted standard of care for that medical field. In addition, if a doctor performing a heart surgery pierces or nicks a vein or blood vessel during the course of the surgery, that may be viewed as an anticipated risk of the surgery. However, if in that same example the defendant doctor nicked a vein or blood vessel and failed to properly suture or repair the damaged blood vessel, causing the patient to suffer internal bleeding or other injuries, that would have a higher likelihood of being considered an act of medical malpractice.
