How to Protect Your Family Against Medical Malpractice: 6 Useful Legal Tips

Have you been a victim of medical malpractice? No one ever expects to become a victim of medical malpractice, but it does happen. Every year, thousands of people are injured due to negligence or mistakes by their doctors or other medical professionals. You need to take action immediately if you have been injured due to medical malpractice. This blog post will discuss six useful legal tips to help protect your family against medical malpractice. Let’s get started.

Understand What Medical Malpractice Is

The first step in protecting your family against medical malpractice is to understand what medical malpractice is. Simply put, medical malpractice is when a medical professional fails to provide competent care and causes an injury or death to a patient. When such happens, the patient or their family has the right to file a lawsuit against the medical professional for damages. For instance, you can find examples of settlements for wrong prescriptions to help you understand what determines a win in such a case. You also need to understand that there are different types of medical malpractice.

Four elements must be present for a medical malpractice claim to be successful. These include the duty of care, whereby the medical professional has a duty to provide care to the patient; breach of duty, which is when the medical professional breaches that duty; causation which is when the breach of duty causes an injury to the patient; and finally, damages which are when the patient suffers some form of harm due to the injury. You may have a strong medical malpractice claim if all four elements are present.

Know the Types of Medical Malpractices

There are four main types of medical malpractice, which are:

• Diagnostic errors – These are the most common type of medical malpractice, accounting for around 28% of all cases. Diagnostic errors occur when a doctor fails to diagnose a patient’s condition correctly or provides a delayed diagnosis. This can happen if the doctor orders the wrong tests, misinterprets test results, or fails to order any tests.
• Treatment errors – Treatment errors account for around 22% of medical malpractice cases. This happens when a doctor prescribes the wrong medication or dosage or fails to provide the proper treatment for a patient’s condition.
• Birth injuries – Birth injuries account for around 7% of medical malpractice cases. This happens when a doctor or other medical professional fails to provide the proper care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery, which results in an injury to the mother or child.
• Anesthesia errors – These account for around 4% of medical malpractice cases. This happens when a doctor or anesthesiologist fails to properly administer anesthesia, which can lead to serious injuries or even death.

Ask the Right Questions

After you or a family member has been injured due to medical negligence, you must ask the right questions. You should learn all you can about the doctor or other medical professional treating you. You should also get as much information as possible about your condition and the treatment you received. This will help you determine if you have a case and, if so, what kind of case you have.

You should also find out if the doctor or medical professional has been disciplined by their state medical board. You can do this by searching the National Practitioner Data Bank. This is a database of all physicians and other healthcare providers their state medical boards sanctioned.

Get Help from an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney

The next step in protecting your family against medical malpractice is to get help from an experienced medical malpractice attorney. If you have been injured due to medical negligence, you need to speak with an attorney with experience handling such cases. The attorney will review the facts of your case and help you determine if you have a claim. They will also guide you through the legal process and ensure your rights are always protected.

When finding the top lawyer, it is important to choose one with experience handling medical malpractice cases. You should also choose an attorney who is a member of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) or a similar organization. The AAJ is a national trial lawyer organization dedicated to fighting for the rights of victims of negligence and malpractice.

Gather All Evidence and Documentation

If you have been injured due to medical malpractice, it is important that you gather all evidence and documentation related to your case. This may include medical records, bills, and any other documentation that will help support your claim. You should also take pictures of any injuries you sustained. It is important to keep all this evidence safe, so it does not get lost or damaged.

You should also keep a journal detailing the events leading up to the accident, the accident itself, and your recovery. This will help you remember important details about your case. It may also be helpful for your attorney. For instance, if your journal entries are later used in court, they can help refresh your memory about what happened.

File a Claim within the Statute of Limitations

If you have been injured due to medical malpractice, it is important that you file a claim within the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the timeframe in which you must file a claim. If you do not file within this timeframe, you will be barred from doing so. Each state has its statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases. In some states, the statute of limitations is as short as one year. In other states, it may be as long as six years.

It is important to note that the statute of limitations may differ if you file a claim against a government entity. For instance, if you are filing a claim against the Veterans Administration, you may have a different statute of limitations than if you were filing a claim against a private hospital. 

If you or a loved one has been injured due to medical negligence, it is important to take action. This includes gathering evidence, finding an experienced medical malpractice attorney, and filing a claim within the statute of limitations. Taking these steps will help you protect your family against medical malpractice. With a good lawyer on your side, you have a much better chance of receiving the compensation you deserve.