Doctors and medical professionals owe a high duty of care to patients. Patients have to rely a great deal on the judgment and expertise of doctors, so when careless errors are made, it can be jarring. Additionally, errors made when it comes to prescription medication and the administering of medicine can have profound and long-lasting effects, in some cases even being fatal. This is why there is such a high standard of care expected from medical professionals, and why there are legal means available to hold them accountable when they breach this duty. If you have been injured or suffered physical and financial harm as the result of a careless medication error made by a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or other medical professional, you do not have to bear the burden alone. You may have standing to bring a personal injury lawsuit on the grounds of medical malpractice in order to recover financially for the full extent of the harm that you have suffered.

When is a Medication Error Medical Malpractice?

Medicine is a complicated field, and decisions often have to be made quickly and without complete information. To some degree, it is inevitable that mistakes will happen. However, there is a difference between an honest mistake that happened while exercising reasonable judgment and adhering to a high duty of care, and a careless or negligent error. The best way to determine whether the medication error in your case would constitute medical malpractice is to consider whether another similarly situated doctor would have made the same mistake. For instance, if your doctor tried the most common medication for your condition and you ended up having a bad reaction to it that could not have been reasonably predicted, another doctor would also have been likely to make the same call. On the other hand, if your doctor did not check your chart for allergies before prescribing you a medication that you were known to have a serious allergic reaction to, this is a mistake that a doctor operating at a high standard of care would be unlikely to make, so it likely would rise to the level of medical malpractice. Suing for medical malpractice allows you to recover for all economic expenses incurred as a result of the injury, as well as compensation for pain and suffering. Economic expenses can include things like doctor’s bills, medical treatment, and lost wages. A lawyer can review the facts of your case to make sure that you have a complete and comprehensive understanding of all the damages that you are entitled to before entering negotiations or considering a settlement.

Talk to the Medical Malpractice Lawyers at the O’Donnell Law Offices

If you have suffered an injury as a result of a negligent medical decision, our lawyers want to hear from you. Schedule a free initial consultation with the  personal injury attorneys at the O’Donnell Law Offices serving clients in Kingston, Wilkes Barre, Hazleton and Pittston at 570-821-5717 or online today. There is no fee or costs until we win your case.

Source:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2628513/

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