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Muskegon Medical Malpractice Attorneys

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.

Common Medical Malpractice Errors in Muskegon, Michigan:

  • Birth Injury
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Missed Diagnosis
  • Surgical Error
  • Untimely Diagnosis
  • Medication or Prescription Error
  • Medication Overdose
  • Emergency Room Error
  • Early or Premature Hospital Discharge
  • Anesthesia Error
  • Infectious Disease
  • Spinal Cord Injury
  • Nursing Home Accident
  • Wrongful Death

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:

Failure to Communicate or Act on Abnormal Test Results

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.

Medication Errors – i.e., Overdose

Common medication errors are:

  • Patient given wrong drug
  • Patient given the wrong amount of the correct drug
  • Patient is given a drug known to cause an allergic reaction
  • Patient is given a drug known to interact poorly with a patient’s other medications
  • Patient is not prescribed a medication known to help patient’s illness or condition

Early Discharge and Repeated Medical Visits Without Diagnosis

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.

Surgical Injuries

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:

  • Performing surgery on the wrong part of the body
  • Cutting a blood vessel or organ inadvertently
  • Turning off or ignoring a warning alarm of equipment monitoring patient vitals
  • Performing surgeries that are unnecessary
  • Using surgery tools negligently
  • Delaying surgery unnecessarily
  • Reckless decision making under pressure
  • Leaving surgical instruments inside the body
  • Performing the wrong procedure
  • Utilizing an inappropriate surgical technique

Failure to Monitor

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:

  • Management of a Patient: Failing to review a patient’s medical chart to verify that the proper medical tests and medicine have been administered to a patient.
  • Surgical Monitoring: A patient is not monitored carefully during a medical procedure.  For example, anesthesia is administered incorrectly, or surgical staff ignores vital signs.
  • During recovery: A patient is not closely monitored for post-operative complications such as bleeding, blood clots, infections, or abnormal breathing or heartbeat.

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:

  1. A breach in the standard of practice
  2. The breach caused an injury
  3. Damage or injury

What are Some Signs that I May Have a Medical Malpractice Claim?

There are some signs that a patient may have a medical malpractice claim. Some very apparent signs are:

Extraordinary Outcome

When a patient has a highly unusual outcome after a routine treatment or procedure, it may be a sign that a mistake occurred.

You are Informed of a Mistake

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.

Worsened Condition

If you undergo treatment or surgery and the result is worse than before, it could be a sign that an error was made.

Untreatable Condition

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.

Contact Experienced Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Muskegon, Michigan

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.