Hazleton Medical Malpractice Lawyer
When you seek medical treatment from a trained professional, you are trusting them to take care of your complaints and protect your health. When they break that trust by making a mistake, it can raise a number of concerns. It’s understandable that you may be scared and concerned about the impact that this mistake will have on your life. Not all mistakes rise to the level of a malpractice claim, but many do.
If you suffered injuries due to a medical professional’s negligence, it’s important to speak with a knowledgeable Hazleton medical malpractice lawyer who can advise you as to whether or not your situation meets the burden of a medical malpractice claim.
What is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice involves a medical professional or organization that commits a negligent act or omission that causes harm to a patient. Medical malpractice covers a wide variety of scenarios and injuries. Imagine you go to the hospital to have surgery and the doctor causes additional trauma because he or she hits something or leaves surgical supplies inside your body. You may not even realize something is wrong until years down the line.
Other common examples of medical malpractice claims can include:
- Poor aftercare following a surgery
- Ignoring or misreading lab results
- Improper dosage and other medication errors
- Misdiagnosing or failure to diagnose
- Surgical errors
- Mistakes during labor
- Not recognizing proper symptoms
- Discharged prematurely
- Not ordering the right tests
- Disregarding a patient history or not taking a full one
Basic Elements in a Medical Malpractice Case
Medical malpractice has more requirements than just a negative medical result. In order to bring a successful claim for medical malpractice, you need to show that their actions fell below a certain standard of care.
There are four main elements that you need to have in order to prove a medical malpractice claim. These include:
- The healthcare professional or doctor owed a legal duty of care to the patient.
- The doctor or medical professional in question breached or violated the required standard of medical care.
- The breach caused illness, injury, or death to the patient.
- Because of the doctor’s medical negligence, the patient suffered harm.
Medical professionals are compared against someone else with the same level of medical knowledge to make a determination as to the standard of care. Given that medical professionals must constantly update their skills and knowledge, you as the plaintiff have to show there was a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the medical professional in question breached that standard.
Proving negligence is a complex process in a medical malpractice claim, which is why you need to rely on the expertise of a lawyer who has experience handling these types of claims. Your lawyer will help you build the evidence necessary to prove medical malpractice against the defendant and ensure that it also meets the damages requirement. In order to receive any financial compensation, you have to prove your damages.
Contact a Hazleton Medical Malpractice Lawyer
If you have been injured due to a medical provider’s negligence, contact O’Donnell Law Offices today to schedule an initial consultation.
