Posted in Wisconsin Workers Compensation Related News
Personal Injury Lawyer
The mere fact that a surgical or medication error has occurred does not mean that anyone is liable for medical malpractice. The medical treatment in question has to adhere to an accepted medical standard of care, and any sub-standard treatment must result in harming a patient. So, if the mistake did not fall below the accepted medical standard of care, or you were not injured by it, there is no medical malpractice.
The standard of care is generally defined as: The level and type of care an ordinary, sensible, health care professional, with the same experience and training, would provide under similar circumstances.
Surgical Errors
A surgical error is a preventable mistake made during a surgical procedure. When they perform surgical procedures, surgeons are held to the same standard of care required of all other types of doctors. A surgeon should perform each surgery with the same skill and care that would be reasonably employed by other surgical professionals under similar circumstances.
Surgeries involve an inherent degree of risk. However, surgical errors go beyond the specific known risks of surgery. Surgical errors occur more often than most people think. It’s been reported that about 1 out of every 10 patients that die after surgery do so as the result of a preventable medical error. Numerous types of surgical errors can occur. Some of the common ones include:
- Injuring a nerve during surgery
- Anesthesia errors
- Surgical equipment left inside a patient
- Operating on the wrong patient
- Surgical infections
- Wrong site surgery
Medication Errors
Medication errors entail administering or prescribing incorrect medications and other forms of medication-related negligence. Malpractice claims against medication errors can be brought against doctors, nurses, pharmacies, and other healthcare professionals involved in prescribing and administering medicines. Some types of medication errors that often lead to malpractice claims include:
Wrong Drug Combination
A patient is injured when they are given or prescribed two or more prescription medications that interact with each other. Both the pharmacies and prescribing doctors can be liable for malpractice in this situation.
Incorrect Medication
Nurses, doctors, and pharmacies can be held liable if they intend to give a particular drug to a patient, but make a mistake and end up providing a totally different medication.
Side-Effect Injuries
Healthcare providers can cause harm when they prescribe or provide medications that have potential side-effects. Prescribing physicians have a duty to ensure that the risks of the medicines do not outweigh their benefits for a particular patient.
Hiring a Medical Malpractice Attorney
Determining what another health care professional, with the same experience and training, would provide under similar circumstances, is a significant piece of forming a malpractice case. A medical malpractice attorney will likely need to get this expert perspective from another doctor who will testify and validate your claim.
If you were injured or harmed by a doctor or healthcare institution and would like to discover if you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, contact a medical malpractice lawyer to set up a consultation or ask further questions. There’s no need for you to suffer in silence, contact a lawyer today.
