Doctors, nurses, surgeons, and other practitioners are human beings like anyone else, which means they are fallible. They may make mistakes from time to time or fail to give patients the standard of care that they would expect from any other medical professional.
Medical malpractice is the umbrella term used for any instance where a healthcare professional fails to provide an appropriate standard of care, and the patient suffers as a result.
In such cases, patients suffer unnecessary pain and stress and may have to deal with various long-term effects. To receive compensation for the damages incurred, medical malpractice victims often require the assistance of a medical malpractice lawyer.
While it’s not uncommon for people to distrust doctors or feel they don’t receive the right kind of care when they need it most, this article explains some of the most common medical malpractice you might read or hear about in Houston.
Failure to Diagnose
This is one of the most common examples of medical malpractice. It takes place when a doctor fails to diagnose a potentially serious condition in the patient.
It is important to note that, in such cases, the patient is as much to blame as the doctor. If you fail to inform your doctor of any relevant symptoms or past health issues, they may fail to diagnose the condition that is affecting you.
Failed Treatment or Surgery
This is one of the most severe examples of medical malpractice. It transpires when a doctor fails to perform an operation that is supposed to cure a condition or reduce the symptoms that the condition causes.
Surgery is a common example of this. However, it can also occur when doctors prescribe medication with severe side effects that the patient didn’t expect. This can cause the condition to get worse or have various side effects that are more serious than the original symptoms.
Wrong Prescription or Dosing
This occurs when the doctor prescribes the wrong dosage or uses the wrong medication to treat the condition.
This can happen when the doctor fails to pay attention to what the patient says or when the doctor is too distracted to focus on the task at hand. It can also occur when the doctor is too hasty to write a prescription and fails to pay attention to your symptoms.
Bad Conditions in the Hospital
This is another example of medical malpractice that occurs when the hospital fails to clean and sterilize the correct instruments. This can occur when the staff at the hospital are understaffed, undertrained, or too busy to clean the correct equipment or sterilize the correct medication.
This can cause the patient to develop an infection due to being in contact with unsterilized equipment, which may require extra treatment and prolonged recovery.
In Conclusion
These are just a few examples of medical malpractice in a health clinic or hospital.
While many people may complain about the quality of care they receive, it’s important to remember that most doctors and nurses try their best to help patients. Sometimes, things just go wrong, and a mistake is made. Just like any other job, medical practice is prone to human error.
However, if you believe you suffered due to deliberate ignorance, you might need to speak to a medical malpractice lawyer.