One of the locations where you would not expect to be severely injured is at the hospital. After all, the building is filled with professional doctors and highly trained nurses who will be able to take care of you within moments if something were to go wrong. However, due to the amount of patients present in facilities and how little time these doctors and nurses have to evaluate patients, there are times when you may be injured while at a medical facility. As a patient, you should be fully protected and taken care of while in the facility. When this does not happen and you suffer injuries, you can sue for medical malpractice. Our attorneys at Normandie Law Firm promise to help victims of medical malpractice get healthy, recover from their injuries, receive the compensation they deserve, and return to work and a normal life as quickly as possible.
Medical Malpractice Overview
Medical malpractice is defined as a doctor’s negligent actions causing harm to a patient. Nurses and other healthcare professionals can also commit medical malpractice. In order for you to sue a doctor for his negligent actions, you must be able to prove four points of negligence. Those points of negligence are as follows:
- You were involved in a doctor/patient relationship. The doctor must not have just given you some advice off the books or handed out unsolicited advice. You must have some sort of contract with the doctor or facility stating that you will pay for medical services and the doctor will do his part to help you. However, this agreement is often ignored and considered implicit in the event of an emergency situation; for example, if you had a heart attack, the doctor would not need your permission to take action and he would have established the two of you in a doctor/patient relationship.
- The doctor breached his duty of care in treating you. This can be established by asking other medical professionals if they would have acted the same way given the same circumstances. If they agree that they would have acted differently or that the doctor made a mistake, he could be said to have breached his duty and made a poor choice.
- These negligent actions must have led to an injury of some kind. If you were not harmed by the breach of duty, you would not be able to pursue damages from the doctor or the hospital. You need to have sustained injuries that stemmed directly from the doctor’s negligence.
- The injury caused harm. If an injury did not cause any lasting harm or if it did not have an adequate impact, your claim may not be accepted. For example, if a doctor negligently used a scalpel but all he did was give you a small cut, you would not be able to sue any damages given how small and ineffectual the wound was.
It can be extremely difficult to prove these four points by yourself. You may be unable to go to negotiations or even make it to court. For this reason, it is important that you enlist the services of an adequate attorney to help you with your claim.
Types of Medical Malpractice
You may be mistreated by a doctor in numerous ways. Because it is the doctor’s responsibility to care for you, you may be quick to assume that any adverse effects or consequences are automatically his fault. This is not explicitly true. Here are a few examples of common doctor errors that lead to medical malpractice:
- Surgical Errors: Doctors who are operating on you may make all sorts of mistakes during the surgery. There is a chance that they will slip and create an incision or wound, which can become infected. They may also snip a nerve and cause irreparable nerve damage. It is important that doctors pay careful attention so that they do not end up with a botched surgery. Other problems that can arise include performing the wrong operation and not using properly sanitized surgical equipment, which can lead to sickness, infection, and various other conditions.
- Birth Injury: During pregnancy, you may have to undergo extensive care by your doctor. This can happen if your baby is having trouble exiting the birth canal or if you are reacting poorly to medication. Doctors have made errors while using forceps, resulting cerebral palsy on the infants, as well as various other types of injuries
- Diagnosis Errors: Throughout treatment, a doctor may miss a diagnosis completely and not catch a disease, misdiagnose you with the wrong condition, or fail to diagnose you within an adequate time frame. These diagnosis errors can have dire consequences – for example, if a doctor misses a cancer diagnosis, it could greatly impact the patient’s life and cut his lifespan short.
- Wrongful Amputation: There have been cases where doctors have mistakenly amputated limbs from patients. The chart may have been written wrong or the doctor may have had a lapse in attention, resulting in the wrong digit or body part being amputated. If this is not caught within a short amount of time, the patient could very well lose two body parts, since one would be unable to be reattached.
- Medication Errors: Doctors have made mistakes wherein they prescribed the wrong medication to patients, resulting in allergic reactions or intensely adverse effects. During surgery, the wrong meds have also been administered, including misapplications of anesthesia. Some patients have been given the wrong dosage amount as well.
There are numerous other ways that a doctor can be guilty of medical malpractice. If you suffer any kind of harm at the hands of a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional, call our law firm today to speak with an expert attorney.
Statute of Limitations
If you have been harmed in a medical malpractice incident, you should be aware of the legal ramifications. For one, you cannot sue after a certain deadline has passed, known as the statute of limitations. For medical malpractice cases, the statute of limitations is 1 year from the date of the injury or the discovery of the injury. Therefore, if you wait too long to file a claim, you may not be able to receive any compensation at all. There are various exceptions to this rule, however; for one, if you were a minor at the time of the incident, the statute of limitations would begin the day you turn 18 years old. Further, if the medical malpractice incident included a foreign object being left in the body, there is no statute of limitations that must be adhered to.
Compensation from a Lawsuit
A medical malpractice lawsuit can yield various types of compensation for your damages. You may be able to receive the following:
- Medical expenses: The medical bills stemming from the injury can be covered, including any surgery, hospitalization, medication, and physical therapy costs. Further, if the injury will force you to receive additional medical treatments in the future, those procedures can be taken care of as well.
- Lost Wages: Any missed earnings or income can be reimbursed if you were forced to take time off because of your injury. You may also receive future lost wages if you have to take further lave because of recovery time or medical treatment.
- Pain and Suffering: The emotional damages that accompany an injury can sometimes be the most debilitating and last the longest of everything. The psychological trauma, PTSD, fear, anxiety, mental stress, emotional anguish, and more can all be covered. However, it is important to note that pain and suffering damages are capped at $250,000. There is no upper limit on medical expenses, however.
If you are curious over what else you may be able to earn in a medical malpractice claim, reach out to one of our attorneys at Normandie Law Firm today.
Our Service Area
We have a Victorville office that has handled medical malpractice cases from the following hospitals, as well as medical facilities from nearby Apple Valley and Hesperia:
- Desert Valley Hospital
- Desert Valley Medical Group
- Valencia Pediatrics
- Knolls West Convalescent Hospital
- Victor Valley Global Medical Center
- St. Mary Medical Center
- Kaiser Permanente High Desert/Victorville Medical Offices
- Choice Medical Group
- Loma Linda University Health Care
- High Desert Heart Institute
Normandie: Here to Help
If you are in need of a medical malpractice attorney in Victorville, call our law group, Normandie Law Firm, today. We are here to help you receive the fairest settlement for your medical malpractice claim, and we promise to do everything we can to bring you the maximum compensation available under the law. Our aggressive lawyers will work to negotiate with the hospital’s insurance agency and we will not stop until you are satisfied with the result. If need be, we will take your case to court. You deserve a team of lawyers that will dedicate their time and service to you, and we fit that bill.
Call us today to schedule a free legal consultation with an accomplished attorney. We will look over your case and tell you what we believe we can earn for you, and you will be able to ask any questions you want about medical malpractice. Our consultations are completely confidential; your private details are safe with us.
If you select us for our legal services, we will give you our zero fee guarantee, which states that you will pay no out of pocket expenses at all throughout the litigation process. Our attorneys will only get paid if we win your claim; the money will be taken from the settlement we bring you, so in essence, the hospital will cover your legal bills. If we do not win, you will not owe us anything at all, and our law firm will take care of all the case’s costs.
For more help filing a medical malpractice case, contact one of our attorneys or visit us at our Victorville office at 13782 Bear Valley Rd., Victorville, CA 92392.
