If the negligence of your health care provider resulted in a personal injury, you might be thinking whether you can file a medical malpractice claim against them. Here are some things you should consider before doing that:

Not Getting the Preferred Outcome Is Not the Same as Medical Malpractice:

Even though modern medicine has advanced impressively, there is no assurance that a medical treatment will be successful and no physician promises that either. It is possible for treatments to go wrong even if the healthcare provider was careful and gave his best.

What is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice is when a health care provider provides a substandard treatment that does not meet the medical standards and levels a professional in the same medical field would have provided.

If that sounds confusing in your particular case, it is probably because it is. Majority of medical malpractice cases require both parties to hire “expert witnesses” to inform the jury about the medical standards the physician was supposed to meet during the treatment and whether they did or not. It is important that these expert witnesses are experienced in the same medical field.

Apart from definite cases (examples listed below), it is difficult to assess if the actions of the medical professional are considered as medical malpractice legally.

Contacting other healthcare providers in the same medical field to judge the conduct of your physician is the best resource you have to figure out whether you have a medical malpractice case. Your next best bet is to consult a qualified medical malpractice lawyer.

What Are Definite Cases of Medical Malpractice?

The most clear-cut situations that are considered as medical malpractice include:

• If a foreign object such as a surgical sponge is left in the patient after surgery
• Performing a procedure, that was not an emergency, without the consent of the patient
• Operating in the incorrect spot, on the wrong limb or on the wrong patient
• Not informing the patient about a risk, that has an occurrence of more than 5%, involving the medical treatment or procedure

Injuries resulting from medical malpractice can be severe and life-altering. It is therefore important that you refer to a professional personal injury lawyer who will work to protect your legal rights and pursue rightful compensation. Contact the team at Wright & James, P.C. to start your recovery process at 404-624-7447.