Malpractice is a type of civil suit that occurs when a medical practitioner, usually a doctor or a nurse, fails to exercise the standard of care in treatment for their patient, and this failure causes injury. Hospital Malpractice occurs when an individual who has been admitted for treatment in a hospital suffers an injury because of improper care. This article will outline what constitutes malpractice, how it is measured and explained by the courts, and how it is reported.
5 Requirements for a Medical Malpractice
They must have breached hospital policy
The medical professional must have breached one of the policy rules for that particular hospital. Examples of this are:
- If a specific type of cancer patient is not supposed to get certain treatments because it is known to make them worse, the doctor administers that treatment anyway.
- If a doctor misdiagnoses their patient through haste or an error in judgment.
- If an emergency room physician fails to properly diagnose a stroke or heart attack.
The patient must have suffered an injury.
An injury is any harm done to the body and the mind of an individual with whom they had a relationship. They must suffer from physical damage, a cut, burns, etc., or they must suffer from a psychological injury, for example, depression.
The act that caused the injury must have taken place in the hospital
It is essential to ensure that the hospital causes you to be injured. In some cases, an individual is injured by their doctor outside of the hospital, and then they bring a lawsuit against the doctor. However, it would be challenging to prove that the doctor and not something else caused the injuries.
The injury must have resulted from a medical mistake or error
For instance, if an individual undergoes surgery, and although everything is done correctly, they still die during surgery. It could be a case of malpractice, but it would depend on whether or not the individual was young and healthy before the surgery. It might be impossible to say whether or not the death was linked to the surgery.
The individual must have suffered monetary damages
It results from being injured and not being able to work or earn money for some time. For instance, if an individual has to be in hospital for several weeks and can’t work during that time, this could cost them a lot of money. The court would assess their loss and consider their losses, including medical expenses, loss of income, etc.
Types of Medical Malpractices
1) Diagnostic Malpractices
These occur when a doctor recklessly or negligently misdiagnoses their patient. It could result in the patient suffering from unfair treatment or being misdiagnosed and not being treated. For example: if a patient is complaining of chest pain when in reality they have a migraine, the doctor may be reckless in diagnosing them correctly.
2) Pharmacological Malpractices
These occur when a doctor administers an inappropriate medication to their patient. An example of this would be prescribing a test for cancer that has no benefit to the patient, therefore resulting in the patient being exposed to unnecessary drugs and not being able to get any proper treatment.
3) Wrong Surgical Procedure
When a doctor performs the wrong surgery on their patient, for instance: removing the wrong organ, the doctor would then have to try and correct the procedure through a second surgery, thus prolonging the patient’s recovery period.
Conclusion
Hospital malpractice can cause a lot of harm to a patient. If such an event happens to you, you must contact a lawyer immediately to prevent further damage.
