What is Medical Malpractice or Medical Negligence?

Medical malpractice (or medical negligence) is a term that covers a wide spectrum of legal issues. At its core, medical malpractice is when a medical professional causes injury to their patient by either a negligent act or a failure to act. The responsible party could be a hospital, a doctor, a surgeon, or any other health care professional. Commonly, medical malpractice stems from misdiagnoses or failure to diagnose, errors during treatment, failures in aftercare, or improper health management.

According to the Georgia O.C.G.A § 9-3-70 malpractice is “damage(s) resulting from the death or injury of any person arising from health, medical, dental, or surgical service, diagnosis, prescription, treatment, or care…” by a licensed healthcare professional.

Read more below about how medical malpractice works, and contact us today to speak with a medical malpractice lawyer in Atlanta to discuss your situation and your possible rights for recovering damages. Our experience in this field will be a great asset to you, and we look forward to helping you get the money you deserve while you can focus on moving past this time in your life.

Examples of Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice comes in many forms, by either an action or a failure to act in a way that keeps the patient safe. Take a look at some examples of medical malpractice below:

Diagnoses

If a person is diagnosed and treated for a disease, and it then turns out that they do not have a disease, or have another illness that their treatment did not address, then there may be an opportunity to file a lawsuit against the medical professional or hospital who recommended and performed the treatments. In addition, if a person were to be suffering from an illness or disease but was not diagnosed at all and the condition worsened, this is an example of medical malpractice by omission.

Treatment

Medical malpractice during treatment could be something like an unnecessary surgery, where a medical professional recommended a procedure, but it was later discovered that the procedure had no chance of doing anything for the symptoms. Additionally, there are situations where surgeons leave tools inside patients after a procedure, the wrong organ was operated on, or some other mix-up.

Aftercare

Errors in aftercare could range from being discharged from a hospital too soon, to being prescribed the wrong medication or recovery regimen – leading to a relapse in the condition. If a patient is operated on, and then exposed to infection under the care of a medical professional, it is likely that there is some sort of option for restitution for this lapse in care.

Health Management

Malpractice in health management can be any failure by a medical professional to prescribe correct health management practices to a patient. For example, a doctor who prescribes blood pressure medication to a patient who either does not need the medicine, or is on other medications that have bad reactions, is a failure of proper health management. In some cases, misprescribing a patient can cause permanent injury, or even death.

Are There Damage Caps For Medical Malpractice Lawsuits?

There are no caps for economic damages, meaning that you can seek repayment for any amount that you have paid out (or missed out on via lost wages, etc), but there are caps for non-economic damages. There is a cap of $350,000 against any single medical facility, and fully capped at $1.05 million against multiple facilities.

Contact Us Today

If you believe you are the victim of medical malpractice, contact us today for a free case evaluation. You will be able to consult with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer in Atlanta to discuss your situation, the impact on your life, and your legal options for compensation.

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