When you don’t feel well and visit a medical expert, you assume they’re going to provide you with high-quality treatment and care. And while this is usually the case, sometimes patient care falls below the expected standard and has a negative impact on your health. Here are some common cases of malpractice.

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Did you know this is medical negligence? Common cases of malpractice

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Even if it’s misfortunate, healthcare professionals sometimes make mistakes when treating patients. Medical negligence can cause severe health issues and losses, and the victims can ask for compensation. Medical malpractice can leave patients with worsened health conditions, severe disabilities, and often substantial financial losses. They might also deal with the physical and emotional trauma associated with their injuries for their entire lives. 

Sadly, even if medical negligence can alter patients’ lives in the long term, many don’t pursue compensation because they don’t know the option is available. Others are uncertain if their case resulted from malpractice and are hesitant to claim compensation. And some wait too long, and they are no longer eligible to ask compensation when they file for a claim. 

Before we go through this article, it’s essential to highlight that there are many types of medical negligence, and we’ll present only the most common ones in the following paragraphs. 

Misdiagnosis

You are a victim of misdiagnosis when a doctor fails to identify the medical issue you’re suffering from. This might happen because they think you have a different illness or don’t consider particular symptoms. 

As a result of being misdiagnosed, you might take the wrong or no treatment at all, and your condition might worsen in time. Unfortunately, misdiagnosis can sometimes even lead to life-threatening conditions. 

Misdiagnosis also happens when the healthcare expert delays figuring out what you’re suffering from. 

Delayed Diagnoses

Delayed diagnoses are another form of medical malpractice; you can ask for compensation for your injuries. In these instances, the doctor delays the diagnosis because they think you suffer from a different illness or don’t put your symptoms together. Eventually, you see another doctor because you don’t feel well, and you get an accurate diagnosis and treatment that improves your state. However, the delay worsened your condition because you didn’t take the necessary medicine. 

A delayed diagnosis is considered medical negligence when the doctor’s assessment is below the expected standard of care of the average situated healthcare specialist. You can claim compensation for a delayed diagnosis when the doctor didn’t order a diagnostic test or failed to interpret the information from your tests or scans.

Surgical negligence

Everyone knows surgery usually comes with some inherent risk, but sometimes surgeons make mistakes that should not happen. These less common cases of malpractice usually include foreign objects being left inside the body or operating the wrong side of the body. 

Numerous types of surgical mistakes can be considered medical malpractice, including the following:

– Leaving objects inside the patient

– Wrong-patient surgery

– Wrong-site surgery

– Performing the wrong procedure

– Performing unnecessary surgery

– Damaging organs, tissues, or nerves

– Using surgical instruments that weren’t properly sterilized

– Administering too little or too much anaesthesia

– The patient doesn’t receive adequate post-surgery care

Surgical negligence can have a negative impact on your quality of life and cause permanent damage. Only because you sign a consent form before surgery doesn’t mean you cannot pursue compensation if the surgeon fails to provide adequate care. If corrective surgery goes wrong and you end up with a musculoskeletal injury that has impact on your life, it is worth contacting an orthopaedic claim compensation solicitor to get help with your claim, they will provide you with the best chance of receiving compensation for your stress and suffering.

Dental Malpractice

As expected, dental care negligence is closely related to medical malpractice, only that it focuses solely on dental work issues. When your dentist fails to offer standard care that causes health problems or leads to injuries, you can hold them liable for the harm they cause. Dental malpractice can occur in multiple ways, from misdiagnosis to poorly performed dental procedures and inadequate dental care. 

Emergency room malpractice

If you have ever been in an emergency room, you already know it’s a high-stress and fast-paced environment for everyone arriving there (patients and medical staff). When finding themselves in a crisis situation, vulnerable patients rely on emergency room professionals to provide them with proper care and inform them about their health condition. 

However, it’s important to remember that emergency room staff is dealing with daily stress and pressure because they have to move patients through the section as quickly as possible and send them to the departments that are supposed to provide adequate care. Given the risky and intense character of the emergency room, patients are at a greater risk of experiencing medical negligence here. Sometimes emergency room personnel make medication-related errors or misdiagnose patients because they incorrectly interpret the symptoms. Unfortunately, a failure to order the correct tests could lead to complications. 

Birth injuries

Welcoming a baby into the world is the most gratifying experience you could ever experience. But if the labour and delivery staff are negligent, the mother or baby can experience devastating health issues. The last thing new parents want is to deal with birth injuries due to medical malpractice. Expectant parents can plan for several things related to the birth of their baby, but no one prepares for possible birth injuries resulting from medical negligence. Unfortunately, in some cases, birth injuries could even cause the baby’s or mother’s death. 

Medical negligence cases involving birth injuries can take several forms, including the following:

– Anaesthesia errors

– Failure to provide inadequate prenatal care

– Failure to perform a C-section in time when the situation requires

– Failure to monitor the mother and baby during

– Unnecessary C-section

– Incorrect use of tools and devices that could lead to brachial plexus injuries and cerebral palsy

– Failure to identify severe complications

Birth injuries usually have ramifications for both mother and child. Additionally, negligence can also take the form of wrongful birth cases when a previous procedure like a vasectomy fails. 

Final thoughts

As a patient, you trust your doctors to provide the best healthcare possible, but no one can guarantee the results. If you’re the victim of medical negligence, don’t hesitate to apply for compensation for medical malpractice.