Medical malpractice is a phrase that no physician and no patient wants to hear. It’s a sign of negligence and reckless behavior on the part of a medical provider, and the claim itself could hurt his or her career significantly.
Not all complications patients face are a sign of medical malpractice, but many are. Still, it’s important to understand the difference between malpractice and an unexpected complication.
Malpractice is only the cause of an injury if a health care professional neglects a patient or provides substandard treatment. If that neglect or treatment results in death, an injury or harm, then the patient may be able to seek compensation for malpractice.
There are up to 19,000 medical malpractice cases in the United States each year, as of 2017 data. These cases involve providers who fail to provide proper care, neglect their patients and cause a patient to suffer injuries or an untimely death. Patients just have to show that their medical providers made errors, caused them harm and cost them financial losses to pursue a claim.
The courts want to see that patients have considerable damage before bringing a claim. What is considerable damage, though? It’s loosely defined and includes things such as enduring hardship, being in chronic pain or suffering a disability.
Medical providers need to be at their best when working with patients. There’s no excuse for errors that result in a patient’s suffering. Our site has more on what you can do if you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice or have watched a person you love suffer as a result of medical errors.