Medical Malpractice Attorney
It is not uncommon to leave the hospital sore or in pain. You may have undergone surgery and have weeks left in your healing process or you may have gone to the hospital in bad shape and came out needing pain medication. In either case, this does not mean the hospital or its team did anything wrong. That said, perhaps you think the doctor who took care of you misdiagnosed you, or maybe the nurse gave you the wrong medication. In either of these instances, you may be dealing with a medical malpractice claim. It can be daunting to even consider bringing a lawsuit forward against a hospital or a staff member because hospitals are typically armed with very good teams of attorneys. However, if you have been injured due to medical malpractice, you have the right to seek compensation.
What’s the difference between medical malpractice and a poor outcome?
When starting a claim, an attorney, like a medical malpractice attorney could tell you that when you leave a hospital and did not get the outcome you were hoping for, it does not mean that the doctor committed medical malpractice. Someone who worked at the hospital—a nurse, doctor, technician, or another staff member—could be responsible for committing medical malpractice. Medical malpractice occurs when a health care provider committed negligence while performing their job.
What does it mean to have “informed consent”?
When you go into the doctor’s office or hospital to get a procedure done, it means that the health care provider in charge of your medical case will discuss the different potential outcomes of your procedure. This means that with the positive outcomes, there are also negative outcomes. You need to know of the risks of a procedure, the side effects of medication, and how your life could be different. Even if it is rare for a procedure to go poorly or most people do not get the listed side effects, you still need to be completely aware so that you can make the informed decision to continue with the procedure.
So, if you experienced dangerous side effects or a bad outcome from a procedure and you were never informed that any of this could happen, consider speaking with a local attorney about this. If a medical provider did not discuss the potential outcomes, this could be a form of medical malpractice.