Medical negligence is also called medical malpractice. Medical negligence is where injury occurs to a patient because of error by a medical professional or medical facility (i.e., doctor, nurse, medical technician, psychiatrist, hospital, or healthcare facility). There are patient safety rules in medicine called “standard of practice.” Medical professionals who violate a safety rule are responsible for the harms and losses.
There are many circumstances that can lead to a medical malpractice claim. However, the majority of medical malpractice claims in Muskegon, Michigan are in one of these categories:
More than 7% of abnormal test results are never reported to the patient. Patients cannot assume test results are normal because they never hear from the healthcare provider. Lack of notification or abnormal test results can lead to a missed diagnosis or delay in treatment, endangering the patient. When a patient suffers injury because an abnormal test result is not reported, a medical error has occurred.
Common medication errors are:
Hospital patients are often anxious and chaos and urgency in the emergency department overwhelm. Sometimes the chaos affects healthcare provider decision making and result in premature discharge. A health care facility or provider, such as Mercy Health, may discharge a patient before he or she is medically stable. When a patient must be readmitted or suffers injury because of early discharge, a medical error has occurred.
Patients undergo surgery to improve or fix a medical complication. When a surgeon errs during an operation, it is a surgical error. Common surgical errors include:
When a medical provider fails to properly respond to a patient’s serious symptom, this is failure to monitor. This may include failure to monitor a patient’s vital signs, failure to communicate an important change to a physician, failure to recognize and respond to signs of distress, etc. Failure to monitor accounts for several medical injuries and situations. Failure to monitor can apply to physiological monitoring, such as neonatal monitoring or monitoring of vital signs during a medical procedure. Monitoring call also apply to the study of patient’s postoperative recovery. There are different ways in which medical providers can fail to properly monitor. Some common failures to monitor include:
A bad outcome isn’t always from medical negligence. A medical professional can’t always cure a patient nor guarantee a good outcome after treatment. The medical professional has to provide safe and appropriate care. Cause of some bad outcomes are unknown, and doctors aren’t required to be correct with every diagnosis if they do their job and adhere to patient safety rules. Misdiagnosis becomes medical negligence or malpractice if the doctor fails to get a medical history, order appropriate tests, or recognize observable symptoms of illness.
Elements Necessary for A Medical Malpractice Claim in Muskegon, Michigan
In Michigan, a lawsuit for medical negligence may be brought against a licensed medical professional. In a medical malpractice case, the plaintiff (i.e., patient) has to prove the following:
There are some signs that a patient may have a medical malpractice claim. Some very apparent signs are:
When a patient has a highly unusual outcome after a routine treatment or procedure, it may be a sign that a mistake occurred.
Most hospitals won’t admit when the organization or its staff made an error. However, even if a physician is honest about mistakes, a patient who has suffered actual harm should speak to an experienced Michigan personal injury attorney.
If you undergo treatment or surgery and the result is worse than before, it could be a sign that an error was made.
When a diagnosis is given with no treatment option, it may be a sign that your healthcare provider missed a diagnosis. Delay in diagnosis resulting in an untreatable condition may be a sign that medical malpractice has occurred.
Medical errors often have tragic consequences. If you or a loved one were seriously injured as a result of medical malpractice, contact the Buchanan Firm team today for a free, comprehensive review of your situation. We can’t prevent what happened, but our Muskegon, Michigan team can help you move forward and hold the responsible parties accountable.
Our experienced medical malpractice attorneys have no problem taking medical providers to trial in Muskegon. Call us today and our team will provide you with answers. And, if we find malpractice, the Buchanan Firm team will fight tirelessly to secure just and fair compensation for all harms and losses.