When you seek medical care, you expect professional treatment and a healthy resolution to your issues. However, thousands of people suffer injuries due to medical malpractice, and it’s not okay. Accidents do happen, but there’s a high level of expectations placed on medical providers that means appropriate measures are put in place to avoid them. However, they slip through the cracks and wreak havoc in people’s lives. If you’ve been injured at the hands of medical professionals, you have every right to file a lawsuit for compensation. Throughout this article, you will find a short guide to medical malpractice claims.
Common Types of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice claims come in all different shapes and sizes, and here are the most common:
- Patients erroneously wake up mid-surgery.
- Receiving another patient’s surgery.
- Not receiving proper risk information beforehand.
- Surgery was carried out in the wrong place.
- Foreign objects left inside patients.
As well as the common malpractice types mentioned above, doctors have been known to perform unsanctioned or experimental surgeries without providing full details to patients. You may think this sounds outlandish, but it does happen – just take a look at this $30m lawsuit against an Illinois doctor.
Seek Immediate Medical Care
You must seek professional medical attention immediately when you’ve discovered injuries because of medical malpractice. Leaving your injuries because you’re looking to file a lawsuit won’t help your cause. Prolonging proper care will strengthen the defense because you’ll appear to be healthy following malpractice. When you do receive treatment, be sure to collect any documentation including bills, which you can pass to your attorney.
Find An Attorney
In many states, the time limit for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is two years, so make sure you find an attorney straight away. When searching for an attorney, it’s important to ensure they’re board-certified and have a proven track record of winning malpractice cases like yours, such as https://www.rblaw.net/practices-surgical-anesthesia-errors.
Gather Any Evidence
Medical malpractice lawsuits are delicate. You will need every piece of evidence you can source to support your claim. You will need to hand any evidence to your attorney, and they will investigate further on your behalf. The best evidence in medical malpractice cases is photos and videos that prove side effects as they happen. As well as this, documentation from your post-malpractice medical assessment, which may prove a wrongful diagnosis.
Gather All Medical Records
People should be able to trust medical facilities to be transparent when it comes to patient files. However, accidents and cyberattacks do happen and your medical records may be lost as a result. Therefore, it’s important to gather all medical records immediately after you discover medical malpractice.
After discovering medical malpractice, you’ll likely be left in shock. However, it’s important to act with speed and seek medical attention, begin gathering evidence, contact an attorney, and collect your medical records. The more evidence and documentation you have to support your claim, the more likely you are to win compensation.
