Determining if It’s Medical Malpractice

Many people go to their doctor’s office or a hospital and end up with a treatment outcome that they weren’t expecting or that is negative. While this can be frustrating, it does not necessarily mean that medical malpractice has occurred. In fact, even if you went from a bad condition to a life-threatening condition under the care of your doctor, sometimes, unfortunately, it was going to happen anyway. It is important to know if you have a medical malpractice case on your hands so that you can begin preparing yourself for a lawsuit. Continue reading to learn more about when a situation is or isn’t medical malpractice.

When Medical Malpractice Occurred

Again, you should not assume malpractice occurred simply because you did not get a favorable outcome regarding your treatment. That said, many people are often shy or intimidated when it comes to reporting malpractice because they believe their doctor probably knows best and did everything in their power to ensure a better outcome. However, just because your doctor has years of medical training and experience, does not mean malpractice cannot occur. When determining if malpractice occurred in your situation, you need to look for two main factors:

• The health care provider did not follow through with the appropriate standard of care.
• This action or inaction caused you to become injured in some way. 

Negligence and Recklessness

The most common ways that a doctor may have caused medical malpractice to occur are through negligence or recklessness. If your health professional did not give you the standard of care expected from their experience and the circumstances surrounding your need for medical attention, then negligence has likely occurred. You may see this in the form of administering the wrong medication, failing to diagnose a patient, or performing the wrong surgery on a patient. 

Recklessness, on the other hand, is not as common as negligence, but is considered much more serious. If the doctor treating your sickness intentionally came into work under the influence of drugs or alcohol, this would be considered reckless. 

When Medical Malpractice Did Not Occur

There are certain situations that may seem like medical malpractice to the patient but were outside of the doctor’s control. For example, if a patient has an untreatable condition, the doctor cannot be held responsible. As long as the doctor is making decisions that live up to the reasonable standard of care, medical malpractice has not occurred. Additionally, if the patient’s illness or injury gets worse and the doctor has done everything to try to stop this from happening, that does not mean malpractice has occurred. In many situations, it is possible for a patient’s health to spiral. 

For more information on how we can help with your medical malpractice claim, please contact a medical malpractice attorney, like a medical malpractice attorney.