When you seek medical care, you place a great deal of trust in your doctor and other medical professionals to deliver a high standard of care. However, health care providers may fail to provide an appropriate level of care.
Medical negligence is the foundation of any malpractice claim. It is typically defined as any act – or failure to act – by a medical professional that deviates from the accepted standard of medical care. But negligence alone is not enough to justify the claim of medical malpractice. To have a malpractice claim, the negligence needs to result in an injury to the patient. These actions are usually the result of:
Unreasonably delayed treatment
Improper, failed diagnosis
Improper treatment
Improper drug prescription
Injuries during childbirth
If you believe you have been injured as the result of a health care provider’s general medical negligence, contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Burg Simpson to discuss your case. Call us at (866) 649-8734 or fill out our FREE case evaluation form now.
When you seek medical care, you place a great deal of trust in your doctor and other medical professionals to deliver a high standard of care. However, health care providers may fail to provide an appropriate level of care.
Medical negligence is the foundation of any malpractice claim. It is typically defined as any act – or failure to act – by a medical professional that deviates from the accepted standard of medical care. But negligence alone is not enough to justify the claim of medical malpractice. To have a malpractice claim, the negligence needs to result in an injury to the patient. These actions are usually the result of:
- Unreasonably delayed treatment
- Improper, failed diagnosis
- Improper treatment
- Improper drug prescription
- Injuries during childbirth
If you believe you have been injured as the result of a health care provider’s general medical negligence, contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Burg Simpson to discuss your case. Call us at (866) 649-8734 or fill out our FREE case evaluation form now.
Retained Foreign Bodies
Retained foreign bodies are a common type of general medical negligence. Sometimes a piece of medical equipment, such as a tube, sponge, or surgical needle is unintentionally left behind inside a patient’s body after surgery. This happens frequently, despite the most stringent protocols that hospitals put in place.
The most common items left behind include:
- Soft goods, such as towels or sponges
- Small miscellaneous items, such as device components or fragments, stapler components, and catheters
- Needles and other sharp objects
- Surgical instruments
When a surgeon or medical professional leaves these surgical items behind, the patient is at a high risk for infection, illness, organ damage, and even death. Although health care providers usually take great pains to eliminate the risk of retained foreign bodies, this safety measure can sometimes be overlooked.
The failure to remove a surgical instrument or any other object after surgery is a serious event that may tied to medical negligence. The patient will almost always have to undergo another invasive surgery, with its own additional set of possible complications, to remove the retained foreign body.
Delayed Diagnosis
Delayed or missed diagnosis is another form of medical negligence. A proper diagnosis is fundamental to receiving the appropriate treatment for the condition. Researchers at Johns Hopkins studied 25 years of malpractice claims and found that diagnostic errors accounted for most claims and make up the worst injuries to patients. The study revealed that diagnostic errors may be the biggest patient safety risk in the U.S. Most troublingly, diagnostic problems are often unrecognized, downplayed, or even ignored.
Many medical conditions are manageable if they are diagnosed properly and treated promptly. However, health care providers will sometimes either miss the diagnosis or given the wrong diagnosis, and this unnecessary delay can cause severe injury to someone with a serious medical condition. A delayed diagnosis can have a direct impact on a patient’s recovery and survival. The consequences can range from a dramatic reduction in life expectancy to paralysis to death.
Learn more about delayed diagnosis here.
A Burg Simpson Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help
If you or a loved one have been harmed by general medical negligence, call us as soon as possible to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation consultation. We will go over the circumstances of your case and work with you to achieve the best possible resolution. Call Burg Simpson’s medical malpractice attorneys at (866) 649-8734 or fill out our FREE case evaluation form today.