14 Dec HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU HAVE A CASE FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?
What are the criteria for medical malpractice? Gruenberg Kelly Della would like to provide some fundamental understanding of what constitutes malpractice so that you have a better idea of whether you qualify for recompense.
What is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs any time a medical provider uses a treatment or procedure that fails to meet the accepted standards of care or violates patient rights. It’s a very complicated and serious issue with many legal nuances, however.
Let’s examine some basic guidelines that can help those who’ve become a victim of malpractice.
Warning Signs for Medical Malpractice
- No Informed Consent– If your doctor engages in a procedure without your consent, or without fully elaborating the risk factors, then you may have a good malpractice case.
- Treatment Problems – not working, severe complications, new symptoms– Medical treatments do not always work perfectly, but especially if they produce severe or novel symptoms, your doctor can be held accountable.
- No Doctor Feedback or Follow Up– You have the right to voice your concerns about pain and other problems that may arise from medicine or any other treatment. Moreover, your healthcare provider must be attentive to them and follow up with you.
- Overly Invasive Treatments– The type and level of treatment should be proportional to your injury or illness. It may be malpractice for a physician to prescribe an aggressive or invasive remedy when a much more conservative approach would suffice.
- Poorly Staffed Healthcare Facilities– This is a telltale sign that you may be at risk for malpractice. It’s not always intentional, but if an understaffed facility provides inadequate treatment, they can be held accountable.
The Four Ds of Medical Malpractice
Scholars, like Sheldon H Preskorn, summarize malpractice with what’s called the Four Ds: duty, dereliction, damages, direct cause.
- Duty – Your provider has a duty to provide you with good care.
- Dereliction – This happens whenever a physician or care facility failed to fulfill its duties.
- Damages – If you were injured because of dereliction, you may be eligible to recover damages.
- Direct Cause – To prove your case, you must clearly show that a provider’s dereliction directly caused the damages.
Proving medical malpractice is difficult, which is why you greatly benefit from employing the legal counseling services of Gruenberg Kelly Della. We can help you organize and present all your supporting evidence if your case goes to court. Our attorneys have secured millions of dollars of damages for our clients in the Long Island area. If you suspect you are suffering from medical malpractice, please contact our legal team for assistance at (631) 737-4110. We are located at 700 Koehler Avenue in Ronkonkoma, and we look forward to helping you achieve the justice you deserve.