If you have recently undergone a medical procedure that you are not completely happy with and think that you were a victim of medical malpractice you might want to think of taking it further than a basic complaint. Medical malpractice is considered to be negligence which causes injury or fatality to a patient. This negligence could include treatments or precautions that were omitted before, during or after the procedure and also actions that put the patient’s wellbeing at unnecessary risk. Unfortunately, there are some levels of negligence that are acceptable, however if the care that was provided fell below the standard of medical practice for that area then you may have a legitimate case. It should be noted that the standard of care that is required from a healthcare professional varies from country to country and state to state.
If you or someone you know has suffered a surgical injury, or a loved has passed away and you believe that it is because of a surgical mistake or error you can seek counsel from a Dallas surgery attorney. However, many people do not realize that in some cases a bad surgical outcome may not be considered to be medical malpractice. Any good Dallas surgical error attorney will be able to tell you whether or not you have a case, nevertheless, all unexpected outcomes should be investigated to determine what has actually happened. Examples of cases that have been found to be surgical malpractice include operating on the wrong side of the body, leaving surgical equipment behind, damage to nearby organs and tissue and failure to recognize and correct surgical mistakes.
Studies have shown that up to 90% of surgical (and other medical) malpractice is not pursued by patients, mainly due to one of two things; they do not know that it is malpractice, or they do not believe that they will be compensated. If you are not sure about whether or not you or your loved one was a victim of medical malpractice it is worth investigating it further. The mere fact that you have an inkling means that something is not quite right. Booking a free consultation with a Dallas surgery attorney will give you the chance to voice your thoughts and concerns and will ultimately give you peace of mind. If with the help of an attorney you discover that you do have a legitimate claim then you can start to think about how to pursue justice.
At this point you will need to provide all of the medical records that you have available. It will be up to you and your attorney to prove that the standard of care provided by the surgical staff was below the standard of medical care that is required and that this poor standard of care was the cause of the injury. Further to that you will need to show that this injury lead to damages that you had to bear.
You can claim for economic and non-economic damages. Economic expenses may include medical bills due to the damages, loss of earnings, future loss of earnings and life care expenses. Non-economic damage may include emotional distress, psychological harm, loss of or serious damage to limbs and organs and sensory attributes, loss of companionship and reduced enjoyment of life due to disability. Claims can be made for all of these forms of damage. There is no limit on how much you can claim for economic damage. Conversely, for non-economic damages there is a cap on the amount that you can recover.
It is very common for a patient to be offered a settlement in return for not going to court. Some settlements are worth considering as it will save you the time and effort of legal proceedings, however some settlements are made by medical organizations to limit the amount of damage that they might incur from going to court. This could be because the level of malpractice is so great that they may end up paying substantially more than the settlement amount in court. In other cases it is to save the reputation of the organization from having its name ‘dragged through the mud’ and damaging the credibility of the firm based on media and other reports. Some patients see accepting a settlement in the same light as accepting a bribe, and in most cases this is due to a misplaced sense of pride. It is worth at least discussing any offered settlements with your lawyer as a Dallas surgery attorney will give you guidance on listing and claiming for your damages and on any settlements that are offered.
After you have figured out what you are suing for you need to know who it is that you are suing. Although your damage arose from surgical malpractice it may not be the surgeon that you need to sue. For example, the surgeon who performed your surgery may only be contracted to the hospital which means that they are not a standard employee of the hospital therefore the case will have to be brought against him/her directly. One the other hand, if your damages were caused by direct hospital staff then you will need to file the case against the hospital itself. Knowing exactly who to point the finger at can be confusing, therefore it is always best to take the advice of your attorney.
After you have presented all of the requested documentation to your attorney it is up to your surgical error lawyer to decide whether or not he/she is willing to take on your case. Unfortunately, sometimes even when all of the evidence seems to be conclusive an attorney may refuse to represent a patient. This is because the costs involved in processing a medical malpractice case can be anywhere from $10 000 to $100 000 and may exceed the amount that is actually recovered from the doctor or hospital at the end of the case. If your damages were real, but were small and healed quickly without needing much medical treatment then most surgery attorneys will be unwilling to take on the case for fear of overspending however there are other sources of help that can be pursued.
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