A Fresno Medical Negligence Attorney helps wrongful death victims seek financial compensation. While this can’t reverse crushing loss, it can provide closure and financial stability.
Proving medical negligence requires establishing an established doctor-patient relationship and demonstrating that a physician deviated from a reasonable standard of care. Common hospital mistakes that may amount to malpractice include:.
1. Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis
When medical professionals make decisions in your care that violate accepted standards of practice, you may have a case for malpractice. Those standards can be as simple as the Hippocratic Oath that doctors take, promising to always treat patients in a way that would be considered responsible in similar medical situations.
When a doctor fails to use their training and tools to make a correct diagnosis or misreads test results, it could be medical malpractice. When the result is that what is a treatable cancer goes undiagnosed and progresses, it can cause serious harm or death. To prove negligence, you must demonstrate that there was a doctor-patient relationship, that your healthcare provider breached that duty, and that the breach directly caused your injury. Those injuries might include the cost of any resulting additional medical bills, loss of income, out-of-pocket expenses, and pain and suffering.
2. Surgical Errors
Some surgical errors can amount to malpractice if the surgeon violated the standard of care. This includes a failure to obtain informed consent, ignoring known risks during surgery, performing surgery on the wrong body part or on a healthy organ, leaving surgical instruments inside your body, prescribing too much anesthesia, or a lack of preoperative planning.
A Fresno Medical Malpractice Attorney can help you determine if you have a claim. Experienced attorneys review your case and provide a free consultation, usually on a contingency basis. They understand the local healthcare landscape and can pinpoint negligence in your case. In addition, they will negotiate with insurance companies for you. This can save you time and money. You can also seek a second opinion from another doctor in Fresno or nearby Visalia, which can strengthen your claim.
3. Birth Injuries
Birth injuries are a subset of medical malpractice that can cause severe complications for both the mother and the infant. These injuries are typically related to labor and delivery, and include conditions such as Erb’s palsy and cerebral palsy.
Difficulty during birth or delivery (dystocia) can cause oxygen deprivation in the infant, leading to a range of problems from mild and temporary to permanent and lifelong. This is also known as perinatal asphyxia.
Many of these issues are caused by negligence or wrongdoing by doctors or hospital staff. Examples of birth injury-related malpractice can include surgical errors, improper use of forceps or vacuum extraction, failure to monitor fetal health during labor and delivery, overnight monitoring mistakes and more. Many of these errors are preventable.
4. Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis of Cancer
Cancer treatment often depends on a timely diagnosis. When doctors ignore or miss cancer symptoms, they give the disease an opportunity to progress. Our attorneys use expert testimony to establish that the victim would have experienced a different prognosis and treatment options had the doctor diagnosed the condition earlier.
Our firm helps victims of medical negligence claim compensation for their losses and suffering from hospital errors at Fresno-area hospitals and healthcare facilities. Many claims settle outside of court.
Medical malpractice claims often involve other types of healthcare providers besides doctors. These include nurses, lab technicians, and hospital management staff. To prove negligence, we must establish that your healthcare provider breached their duty of care and that this breach directly caused harm. This typically requires a thorough review of your medical records and communication records with the healthcare provider.
5. Failure to Treat
When a medical condition develops, it is vital that healthcare professionals identify it accurately and order proper treatment to mitigate the impact of the issue. When doctors fail to treat a recognized medical issue, they may be guilty of medical malpractice.
The key elements of a successful medical malpractice claim include the existence of a doctor-patient relationship, showing that your healthcare provider breached their standard of care, and that their negligence directly led to your injury and losses.
If a physician fails to notice or diagnose a medical issue, you could be left with severe symptoms, enormous bills, and even life-changing injuries. Failing to address cancer, heart conditions, or strokes early on can lead to permanent and debilitating health consequences. The wrongful death of a loved one can also be the result of failure to treat.