Medical malpractice is a subset of the law which is defined as “any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient”.
Within this area of the law, attorneys such as Dr. Bruce G. Fagel work hard to get their clients the very best results that they can. It is important that attorneys such as Dr. Fagel take on the right clients, those who do have a genuine claim for malpractice and those who actually have a chance of winning.
Wrong Claimants
An example of some of the people who try to bring a claim in a situation where they don’t win, are those who claim wrongful or missed diagnosis. For example, the diagnosis of a patient with cancer is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, and doctors do sometimes miss things. These cases, although damaging given the impact which a late diagnosis can have on life, are not seen as being negligent enough to qualify for malpractice.
These are some examples of malpractice which do often win.
Wrongful Death
When a death occurs there is a full autopsy and post-death examination to ensure that there was nothing awry with the treatment and the care of the patient. Occasionally however we see mistakes which are made here, that can eventually lead to someone’s death, when it wasn’t particularly expected. In these cases there is certainly a claim to be made and it is critical that the law gets to the bottom of why a patient has died.
Surgical Errors
We have to be careful with the semantics here because surgical errors aren’t always a signifier of malpractice. Mistakes can happen and there is some scope in the law which will afford some leeway with judgement calls which are made in the operating room. Malpractice occurs however when negligence takes place, or when miscommunication leads to the surgery to go wrong. This could include the removal of organs when not necessary, the operation on the wrong patient, instruments left inside the body following surgery or perhaps even surgery carried out by someone who is not in the right frame of mind to do so.
Treatment Errors
Treatment errors are often cited as malpractice when they go against the industry standard for the treatment of certain ailments and diseases. If a physician decides that they know best with regards to the treatment of a patient, and goes against what is recommended, then this can certainly be seen as medical malpractice. This is of course even more severe when it results in the damage of the patient, either temporarily or permanently. In such a situation medical malpractice lawsuits can certainly be brought against the person who has instigated this.
As you can see there are a number of reasons for medical malpractice, but not all medical errors fall under this aspect of the law.
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