Fiol Law Group|Posted in Medical Malpractice on May 21, 2020
Medical malpractice is the failure of a medical professional, such as a doctor or nurse, to meet the necessary standards of patient care, resulting in patient harm. Medical malpractice is a common issue among hospitals and health care centers in the US. It leads to thousands of serious injuries as well as preventable patient deaths. Recognizing the most common types of medical malpractice or medical negligence could help you detect a hospital or doctor’s wrongdoing in Tampa Bay. If you detect signs of medical malpractice, work with a medical malpractice lawyer in Tampa to bring the defendant to justice.
What Can Be Class as Medical Negligence?
Medical negligence is a type of civil tort. It can give a patient or his or her loved ones the right to file a civil lawsuit. Florida Statute 766.102 defines medical negligence as a health care provider’s failure to carry out a surgical, medicinal or diagnostic procedure with the prevailing professional standard of care. If the physician or defendant in question did not act as a reasonably prudent similar health care practitioner would have in the same situation, he or she may be guilty of medical negligence. Although many examples of negligent medical intervention could constitute medical malpractice, certain types happen more often than others.
Misdiagnosis
Part of a physician’s profession is to diagnose a patient’s condition or health problem with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Doctors must make medical diagnoses using strategies taught in medical school. They must use the process of eliminations to make reasonable diagnoses based on a patient’s symptoms, a physical exam, appropriate medical tests and other approved measures. A doctor’s failure to listen to a patient’s complaints, order the correct tests or properly interpret the results could lead to a misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis – three forms of medical malpractice that could interfere with the patient’s receipt of treatment.
Failure to Treat
Some physicians make the correct diagnosis only to commit malpractice in the treatment of the patient. This is most common among physicians who put profits over their patients, taking on more patients than they can safely see at a time. Some patients may fall through the cracks, with the doctor failing to recommend the right treatment or engaging in negligent pre- or post-operative care. Discharging a patient too soon is an example of a negligent failure to treat, as is failing to follow up with a patient.
Surgical Mistakes
Many things can go wrong in the operating room, often despite the best efforts of the surgical team involved. A negligent or careless surgeon, nurse or anesthesiologist, however, could increase the chances of patient injury or death. Surgical mistakes can refer to wrong-patient or wrong-site surgery, artery nicks, nerve damage, anesthesia errors, intubation errors, brain damage, hemorrhaging, and leaving a foreign object in the patient’s body.
Birth Injuries
Handling a patient’s pregnancy from her first appointment to delivery is a specialized practice that requires unique knowledge and training. Unfortunately, not all physicians overseeing a mother’s medical care are up to the task. A birth injury can occur due to many types of medical negligence during the mother’s care or the infant’s delivery: maternal misdiagnosis, untreated infections, failure to monitor fetal vital signs, failure to order a C-section, negligent emergency response, improper birthing techniques, careless use of birthing tools, injuring an infant during delivery, untreated jaundice and more.
Medication Errors
Another common form of medical malpractice is the failure of a physician to prescribe and/or administer the correct patient medication. Medication mistakes can take the form of prescribing the incorrect drug or the wrong dosage, failing to check the patient’s existing medications, failing to check for allergies, mixing up patients, administering the incorrect drug or dose, and pharmacy errors. Medication mistakes can lead to overdoses, adverse drug interactions and declines in patient health.
If you think you have grounds for any type of medical malpractice claim, contact an injury lawyer for advice about how to proceed with a lawsuit in Tampa Bay.