Do I Have a Medical Malpractice Case?

Medical malpractice is a type of professional negligence that occurs when a medical professional like a doctor, surgeon, nurse, or chiropractor fails to conduct himself or herself with the degree of skill that would ordinarily be exercised by a professional of similar training and experience. Generally speaking, a medical malpractice case or claim arises after a patient is injured during the course of medical treatment.

Was Your Doctor Negligent?

Importantly, however, not every poor medical outcome or medical mistake results in a medical malpractice case – instead, there needs to be some type of negligence involved. Simply put, negligence involves a failure to meet the accepted standard of care. For example, if you were to go to the doctor’s office complaining of a set of symptoms that could reasonably be interpreted to indicate a common medical issue but your condition could easily be confused with something else that caused similar symptoms, you would probably not have a claim. If, however, part of the accepted standard of care was using tests to rule out such similar conditions and your physician failed to order those tests, you may have a claim.

As the above example should indicate, whether medical malpractice occurred in a given situation is a very fact-dependent and highly technical determination and often involves obtaining opinions from other physicians or medical experts in order to determine how they would have acted in that given situation. For this reason, the best way to determine whether you have a valid medical malpractice claim is to discuss your case with a highly experienced medical malpractice attorney.

While medical malpractice cases can arise out of many different circumstances, some of the more common forms of medical negligence are detailed below.

Types of Medical Malpractice

Failure to Diagnose – Failure to diagnose is a common form of medical malpractice that occurs when a physician fails to recognize that a patient has a particular medical condition and treatment is delayed as a result. This can arise from situations like the one discussed above where a doctor fails to order tests or can simply result from missing a diagnosis that should have been obvious.

Medication Errors – Medication is regularly distributed to patients in hospitals and prescribed to patients by doctors. Administering the wrong type or dose of medication can cause serious injuries, as can prescribing medication that a doctor should have realized would be dangerous for a particular patient.

Surgical Errors – Surgeons and support staff can make many mistakes before, during, and after surgical procedures that lead to very serious injuries in patients. This can include operating on the wrong body part or leaving foreign objects inside the body.

Birth Injuries – When doctors or nurses fail to diagnose possible birth complications, fail to monitor vital signs, or fail to take emergency action when needed during delivery, serious injuries to babies and mothers can occur.

Call a Maryland Medical Malpractice Attorney Today for More Information

If you believe that you have been injured by the negligence of a medical professional, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible. Medical malpractice claims can be extraordinarily complicated, and a skilled lawyer will review your case and determine whether you have a claim you may be able to pursue. To speak with a Maryland medical malpractice attorney, please call the Casper Firm today at 1-888-387-3878.