Persona Injury Lawyer
Did you know that medical errors are the second leading cause of US deaths? Unfortunately, it’s true. Despite the fact that you trust your physician and the other members of your health care team to provide you with quality medical care and treatment, mistakes occur at an alarming rate. Doctors are prone to mistakes just like anyone else, but this is no excuse for causing serious harm to a patient under their care. No one wants to imagine that their treating physician made a grave error, but it can and does happen.
As a personal injury lawyer warns, don’t assume that your doctor or your hospital’s patient representative will tell you if and when you become the victim of medical malpractice. Even though professional organizations recommend full patient disclosure on the part of medical practitioners and providers, statistics show that few do. Consequently, you need to be your own best health care advocate and remain on the lookout for red flags that signal a possible medical malpractice event.
Medical Malpractice Indications
While the types of medical malpractice that can occur are almost too numerous to catalog, if you notice any of the following, you have reason to suspect that someone on your health care team has made a mistake for which you are paying:
- You feel worse than you did before seeking medical treatment.
- You develop new symptoms from the ones for which you sought treatment.
- You experience continuing pain after undergoing surgery.
- You have to undergo a second or subsequent surgery.
- The prescribed medications seem not to be working.
- You develop swelling or other symptoms that tell you something is wrong.
- You cannot get comfortable, no matter what sitting or lying position you’re in.
- Pain keeps you awake at night.
- Your doctor or his or her nurse seem not to take your complaints seriously.
- They fail to answer your questions fully and seem evasive when you question them.
Where Medical Malpractice Occurs
Medical malpractice occurs in all medical settings, including the following:
- Doctor’s office
- Dentist’s office
- Emergency room
- Surgical suite
- Labor and delivery suite
- ICU
- Clinic
- Urgent care center
- Nursing home
- Assisted living facility
- Rehabilitation facility
- Pharmacy
If you suspect that you have become the victim of medical malpractice, your wisest course of action is to contact an experienced law firm familiar with handling cases related to medical malpractice. After listening to your suspicions and the symptoms you are going through, your lawyer can prove invaluable in establishing whether medical malpractice actually occurred, and if so, where and by whom. Then you can know how to proceed forward in pursuing compensation if you wish to do so.
The first step that your legal representative will probably take, such as the team from Therman Law Offices, LTD, is a thorough review of all your medical records. The more experience your lawyer has with these types of cases, the more likely they will be to understand not only the enormous amount of medical terminology involved, but also conflicts between and among the various reports. Your lawyer can then determine who you can sue to obtain the compensation to which you are entitled.