Medical malpractice comes in many forms, and sometimes, victims of malpractice are not even aware that they have legal rights to compensation from their medical provider. According to Georgia law, medical malpractice is “the death or injury of any person arising from health, medical, dental, or surgical service, diagnosis, prescription, treatment, or care” under the supervision of a licensed medical individual or group such as a primary care physician, hospital, nursing home, surgeon, or institution.
Essentially, medical malpractice cases rely on a few basic factors:
- The medical professional had a duty to provide a reasonable standard of care to the patient
- The standard of care was not followed
- This breach of duty led to an injury
- The patient suffered damages, either economic or non-economic, as a result of the injuries
If these four factors can be proven, then it is likely that the patient has the legal right to seek financial restitution for their suffering.
Read more below about some common forms of medical malpractice, and contact us today to discuss your situation. During your free case evalution, an experienced medical malpractice attorney in Atlanta will examine your situation and determine the legal options you have.
Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose
If a patient is suffering from a yet-to-be-identified malady, and is either misdiagnosed or diagnosed with something they do not have, this can cause major problems. For example, if a patient has early-stage cancer but their doctor fails to recognize it, the cancer will spread and require a more serious treatment as time goes on. Alternately, the patient could have been diagnosed with something different entirely, and treated for that while their actual illness progresses.
Surgical Errors
There are many different possibilities of surgical errors, and each is equally important and devastating. For example, a patient could be getting surgery on a herniated disk, but the operating team works on the wrong area of the back. Other possibilities of surgical errors include leaving tools inside the patient after the operation is complete, or even having the wrong procedure because of a name mixup.
Medication Errors
Medical professionals must know all of the medications that their patients are on at all times, because some have very violent reactions to each other. Reactions aside, dosage amount is very important, and a doctor could assign the wrong dose to their patient, which in turn does not have the effect it is intended to.
Doctors are not the only people who may be responsible for medication errors: in addition, pharmacists are responsible for filling the prescription, and an error can easily occur at this step of the process as well. However the error occured, it is important that it is addressed immediately to avoid issues like liver damage or other injurious outcomes.
Anesthesia Miscalculations
During a procedure, it is common for a patient to be anesthetized for a variety of reasons. While very routine, the anesthesiologist is an integral part of the surgical team, because of the inherent risks associated with the process. There are many issues that can arise, such as:
- Not enough anesthesia
- Too much anesthesia
- Adverse reaction with other medications
- Failure to oxygenate the patient properly
- Allergic reactions
- Failure to monitor patient
Contact Cambre & Associates Today
If you believe that you have been the victim of medical malpractice, contact our team immediately to discuss your options. Georgia laws have a two-year statute of limitations on any medical malpractice lawsuit, so it is important that you act as soon as possible and start the process early. We will fight for the money you deserve, because your injuries should not go unaddressed by the people who are responsible.