About Medical Malpractice

Plaintiffs' Personal Injury Law Firm

General Description

Medical malpractice occurs when a physician or other medical care provider does not follow the "reasonable standard of care" for a patient in a similar medical situation. This standard of care is based on what other people in similar professions would do when faced with the same situation. Emergency room doctors have different standards of care to uphold than specialists such as plastic surgeons and podiatrists. This makes proving a breach of the standard of care difficult in a medical malpractice case. Malpractice liability can be classified as failure to diagnose, improper treatment, or the failure to warn a patient of known risks.

Failure to diagnose does not mean that a doctor is liable for medical malpractice if simply any condition was not diagnosed. Some conditions are almost impossible to detect until they have progressed so far that a patient's chances of survival are drastically reduced. That is why doctors are not held to the standard of finding every medical condition as soon as it starts. However, they are held to the standard of diagnosing a condition if another trained doctor would be able to diagnose the same condition. If a condition could have been diagnosed with diagnostic or laboratory tests, and these tests were not ordered, then a doctor could be held liable for failure to diagnose.

Improper treatment can be defined in a number of ways, from removing the wrong organ during surgery or amputating the wrong limb. Administering a treatment that results in injury or harm when the possible complications of such a treatment were not justified can also be a form of medical malpractice. In order to prove that a medical care provider is liable for medical malpractice for improper treatment, you must show that the provider acted negligently in administering the treatment and that the treatment itself caused the subsequent harm.

Failure to warn a patient of known risks is when a doctor does not disclose all of the possible risks of a procedure to a patient before the patient gives consent for that procedure. This is also called negligent nondisclosure. When proving this type of medical malpractice claim, a plaintiff must demonstrate that a reasonable person would not have consented to the procedure if all of the risks were disclosed before consent was given. If a reasonable person would have had the procedure, even after being informed of all the risks, then the claim is invalid.

Medical malpractice claims involve complicated medical evidence and testimony from expert witnesses who have experience working in the medical field. You need to have an experienced medical malpractice lawyer at your side. At Napoli Bern Ripka, LLP, we have the experience and knowledge needed to interview expert witnesses, gather medical evidence, and work to negotiate settlements or prepare for jury trials on behalf of our clients. If you have been the victim of medical malpractice, contact us today to discuss your claim. We will determine the best way to proceed with your case and immediately begin working on your behalf to gather information.

Personal Injury

Medical Malpractice