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Understanding Medical Malpractice
Posted by | Posted in Medical Health | Posted on 24-04-2009
Medical malpractice kills about 80,000 people every year and injures far more. It is estimated that only two percent of malpractice victims seek compensation. Many people do not understand what constitutes malpractice or realize that they may have a case.
An unsatisfactory medical outcome does not necessarily constitute malpractice. Medical procedures carry risks and some treatments are not successful, even when doctors do everything right. Medical malpractice is treatment by any type of health care professional which does not meet the standard level of care and results in harm to the patient. Failing to take a necessary action or taking an inappropriate action are both malpractice, when they cause harm
Basic elements of malpractice
In order to have a medical malpractice case three elements must exist:
• There must have been a professional relationship between you and the health care provider – this establishes responsibility. Simply calling a doctor’s office out of the phone book to ask a question does not constitute a doctor/patient relationship.
• The health care provider must have acted beneath the standard level of care that any other health care provider would have used in the same situation.
• The substandard care must have caused you harm.
Not just doctors
Many people are under the impression that medical malpractice is limited to mistakes made by their physicians or surgeons and does not include areas of medicine such as dentistry and psychiatry, or believe that they cannot sue if they chose an elective procedure, such a cosmetic surgery. Medical malpractice applies to all fields of medicine and no health care provider is excused from meeting the standard level of care simply because your procedure was a choice rather than a necessity.
Individual health care professionals can be held responsible for their actions, and so can the institutions that they work for. Often an institution is held liable due to its policies, such as a hospital being held liable for patient dumping or unsanitary conditions. When a medication is the cause of harm the pharmaceutical company may also be held responsible, or may be solely responsible, making your case a product liability case.
Medical malpractice cases can have multiple responsible parties including, but not limited to:
• Doctors
• Dentists
• Psychiatrists
• Surgeons
• Anesthesiologists
• Nurses
• Emergency room staff
• Hospitals
• Nursing homes
• Government institutions
• Pharmaceutical companies
What you need to do
Medical malpractice lawsuits are complex, but they are often your only hope for getting the quality medical care that you need to recover from the harm you were caused, or compensation for disabilities which prevent you from making a living or simply enjoying life as you would have without having been a victim of malpractice. If a loved one has been one of the 80,000 victims a year who did not survive medical malpractice, you may be entitled to compensation for wrongful death.
Pursuing a medical malpractice claim is more than seeking financial compensation for yourself and your family. It is incentive for negligent or incompetent health care professionals to clean up their act, and may save the next victim from harm.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice you should:
• Contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney.
• Write down everything that has happened so far and how it has affected your life, and start keeping a journal of how it affects you every day.
• Get copies of all of your medical records.
• Keep receipts for all of your expenses resulting from the malpractice
• Keep a record of all lost income caused by the malpractice
• Seek an independent medical assessment (your attorney may recommend a specialist)
Watch the video related to medical health
Medical Remedies for Giants World’s Tallest Woman, Sandy Allen Dies at 53
Help answer the question about medical health
What do most Native American's believe in as far as medical standards, doctors, medicine men, health care, etcI know it sounds like a generalization, but do Native American's have a standard of medical and health care principles? Alternative Medicines? Thanks in advance for any insight!
The general rule is 3 years from the injury or one year from when you knew or "should have known" of the injury whichever occurs first. so the answer you're looking for is that it could be as little as one year and up to 3 years. You need to check with a California lawyer. The "should have known" standard is subjective. Here's a link.
http://www.expertlaw.com/library/malpractice_by_state/California.html
It depends on the state and it may depend on the circumstances and on the victim. You need to see a malpractice attorney in your area.
@cantlandaswitchflip : No but there are better plant oils one could use.
Where does this guy get his statistics? China’s rate of Osteoporosis is the same as the US, Indonesia is higher. And what is he talking about when he says Chinese women nursing five babies? China has population control measures that do not allow five babies. What a joke. Granted, he makes many good points about the dangers of fat and protein, but share some true statistics. Likewise, keep it scientific. And it has been recently concluded that margin is much more dangerous than butter.
@tiatdivad : You don’t have to. Do you think the Thai’s or Okinawans give up all animal foods? No they don’t.
@MommaElin I agree, I think that we should teach it in school. I would even teach it to the kids, maybe I should become a teacher!
@caesarmoridon chinese parents are usually off to work and have employed wet nurses.
Here's the scoop. Each case differs and you have to "prove" what he did was of negligence. Therefore, it is best you contact an attorney. They will know how to obtain personal information and investigate the past procedures.
iam impressed… this video is so old, but he knows about absolutely everything. this guy is great!
@caesarmoridon
this video was made in 1985..
Malpractice is a joke but it draws a ton of attention. Be realistic. Assume that you are a hospital that employs 100 doctors. Each doctor makes $300,000 per year and each doctor pays $80,000/year in malpractice insurance. Now assume malpractice reform goes through and it cuts the malpractice insurance by half. In what world do you think the employers are going to keep paying doctors the same wage knowing that they are taking more of it home? Why would they keep paying $300,000 instead of reducing it to $260,000.
Also, be careful what you wish for. Malpractice in some fields is high because the costs of a mistake are massive. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if an OB/GYN makes an error that causes a child to have a life long defect requiring long term in-home care, $250,000 (one of the proposed caps) will not do very much to remedy the situation/cover the costs.
The primary legal question is, did the doctors violate the standard of care required to be followed by physicians in your jurisdiction? That question is most often answered by another physician who is familiar with that standard of care and who gives his opinion, at trial, in support of your case. The first person you should talk to now is a lawyer who handles medical malpractice cases for Plaintiffs.
Is there a more definitive test than ultrasound used to determine identical versus fraternal? In my opinion, basing such a conclusion on an ultrasound is like trying to draw a perfectly straight line without a ruler to guide the pencil. . . you're taking a guess based on merely eyeballing what you see.
Always insurance companies. Doctors (and other medical practitioners) are covered under medical indemnity insurance.
Exactly too much protein! It’s a marketing scheme that we need all this protein so they can sell all these fast food burgers and junk.
People with liver disease should not be given tylenol. However, it can be given still if carefully monitored. Liver disease is a relative, not an absolute, contraindication.
The key to this is did the doctors know of the liver problems before then gave the vicodin. If they did, then you have a serious medication error. It they did not, it is just a sad turn of events.
Tylenol causes liver failure which causes death. You need to take quite a bit of tylenol for this to occur. Way more than the 500mg you were given. The maximum dose of tylenol per day is 4 grams. Even at 4 grams, you will not get liver failure.
What did your father die of?
In my eyes, this is just a tragic story, not malpractice.
As far as I know, neither doctors nor researchers have found a clear cut explaination for Asperger's Syndrome. It seems to have a strong genetic component, but there are also brain structure changes which suggest something in the early brain development has gone awry. I don't think I've seen anything that links oxygen deprivation at birth with it- though we already know the link between that and cerebral palsy. One site that may offer some help to you at the moment is
http://www.aspergersyndrome.org/
That should get you into a bunch of resources available to help you work through this and figure out how to best help your son. Above all, remember your son is more than a label- humans are a lot more complex than that. Your love is still the most important treatment available. Good luck to you both.
Well you can talk with the doctor. He has insurance and they will try to negotiate a settlement (out of court).
This could be good in one way…You don't have to pay some ambulance chaser 40-50% of your settlement.
Be careful though…Malpractice insurance companies tend to send you a low ball figure hoping you will settle.
If you do settle without lawyers, get covered for later illnesses that could be because of the mistake the doctor made.
Good Luck
Interesting that the human body urinates out calcium from consuming too much animal protein, and men, the high risk of prostate cancer from a fleshy diet. Change the way you eat and get free vegan recipes: easyveganmeals