How to Know if You Have a Medical Malpractice Case: Key Indicators to Look For

Patients place their trust in their doctors and hospitals – so it can be hard to tell when doctors commit medical mistakes that justify filing a medical malpractice claim. Many parts of your medical care are so standard that failing to provide this care may be medical malpractice. If your surgery or treatment does not improve your health or worsens your health, you may also have a medical malpractice claim. Many patients wait too long to seek legal advice or to get a second medical opinion – don’t be that patient. Call us now.

What is a medical malpractice claim?

To file a medical malpractice claim, the following conditions must apply to your care:

• There is a legal duty to treat you. You usually show this duty through your doctor/patient relationship. This relationship generally applies when a doctor or hospital agrees to treat you. Normally, except in emergencies, patients will complete a set of forms and have an in-person consultation. ER physicians and hospitals also must provide emergency care based on applicable state and Washington D.C. law and medical standards.
• There is a breach of the legal duty. Generally, this means showing that your doctor or other healthcare provider failed to conduct an exam, make a diagnosis, and provide treatments per the acceptable medical standards for the type of care being offered. We work with medical professionals to show what medical care you should receive.
• You suffer injuries, or a loved one dies due to the failure to provide competent medical care. Our lawyers work with doctors who can verify your injuries and what medical care you need to correct the mistakes if possible. These doctors also help to rectify the injuries you have due to the medical malpractice and treat your original health disorders (the disorders the doctors who committed malpractice were supposed to help you within the first place).

The responsible parties may include doctors, hospitals, nurses, lab technicians, emergency care providers, pharmacies, dentists, and others.

What standard medical care failures should be a cause for concern?

There are many different types of medical malpractice. Some of the many types we handle include:

• A misdiagnosis (diagnosing a condition you do not have) or a lack of a diagnosis (failing to diagnose your condition in a timely manner)
• Failure to order the correct diagnostic tests
• Emergency care mistakes
• Surgical mistakes
• Birth injuries
• Anesthesia mistakes
• Proving the wrong treatment
• Medication errors
• Providing the correct treatment in the wrong manner
• Failure to monitor medical care after treatment is provided
• Many other types of malpractice depending on your medical condition

What are the signs and symptoms of medical malpractice?

Some of the early signs of medical malpractice:

• The failure to take an oral history, conduct a physical examination, and/or order appropriate medical tests.
• The failure of your healthcare provider to provide a timely diagnosis or explain why a diagnosis is being delayed.
• The failure to advise you of any treatments’ risk factors and possible side effects – and to obtain written informed consent for surgeries and other procedures.

Some of the factors that indicate medical malpractice include:

• Pain or symptoms that continue after any treatment that you reasonably believed would improve your health.
• Your doctor fails to monitor you immediately after any surgeries or treatments and fails to conduct regular follow-up examinations.
• Your doctor does not listen to you or clearly answer your questions.
• The medications your doctor prescribes fail to improve your health.
• You develop an infection after any surgery, treatment, or hospital visit.

Many of the indicators of medical malpractice depend on the type of medical condition you have, your diagnosis, and the treatments your healthcare provider recommends. Some injuries or health disorders by themselves generally indicate medical malpractice, such as when a newborn suffers cerebral palsy or it becomes clear that a doctor left a foreign object inside you after surgery.

How do medical malpractice lawyers determine if a healthcare provider commits medical malpractice?

The best course of action is to seek a review of your medical condition from a physician who practices in the same healthcare area as your original injuries or illnesses or any new health disorders you now have. We recommend that you make an appointment with us. Our team has more than 40 years of experience fighting for personal injury victims, including victims of medical malpractice. We’re prepared to review your medical history and recommend physicians who should be able to assess what happened, your current medical condition, and the medical care you need.

Our job also involves:

• Using the discovery process to obtain all your medical records and reports.
• Reviewing every step of your medical care
• Determining which medical care providers may be responsible for medical malpractice
• Determining the appropriate medical standards for your type of care – and what violations of those standards took place.
• Assessing, with the help of your new physicians and other healthcare providers, what injuries you have due to medical malpractice, including:
  • Determining your current medical condition, diagnosis, and prognosis
  • Whether any corrective treatments can now help – or whether the delay prevents providing those treatments
  • What treatments you now need
  • How the medical mistakes are affecting every part of your life
  • Whether the medical mistakes prevent you from working
• Filing a formal complaint against the responsible healthcare providers
• Reviewing what medical equipment and devices were used
• Guiding you through each stage of your claim
• Responding to the arguments of the defense lawyers for the doctors
• Negotiating a possible settlement with the insurance carriers
• Arguing your case before a jury

While past success is no guarantee of future results, our records in medical malpractice cases showcase many strong outcomes for clients, including four verdicts between $1.5 million and $2.5 million dollars.

Please contact Paulson & Nace, PLLC, through this contact form or by calling our office.