The impact of treatment errors and other types of medical malpractice on patients often leads to poor physical and psychological outcomes. This result is accurate even in cases where they were not extremely sick or seriously injured before the malpractice occurred.
Thankfully, it is often possible for victims to recover compensation and hold the doctor or facility legally accountable after these incidents. A Los Angeles personal injury lawyer can help you pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit or negotiate a fair settlement.
How Do Treatment Errors Cause Injuries and Negative Patient Outcomes?
If medical care providers and the facilities where they offer care prioritized patient safety as they should, treatment errors and other medical negligence would be minimal. Instead, patients suffer injuries because of careless and reckless mistakes every day. Some common treatment errors include:
- Surgical mistakes
- Issues with testing to confirm a diagnosis
- Providing the wrong treatment
- Improperly administering the correct treatment
- Failing to monitor a patient adequately during and after treatment
- Making serious medication errors
- Delaying treatment without cause
The legal implications of treatment errors and other healthcare negligence are significant. Because of the severe injuries they often cause patients, we believe that those implications should be substantial.
Hospitals and doctors, through their malpractice insurance, often have to compensate these patients for a wide range of expenses and losses they endure and will continue to experience because of their injuries.
Who Is Liable for Treatment Errors and Related Damages?
Most treatment error medical malpractice cases involve lawsuits against healthcare providers. Healthcare providers, whether individuals or facilities, have a legal and ethical duty to provide an acceptable standard of care to all patients. When they fail to do so, this is medical negligence.
The critical evidence in a malpractice case often comes from medical experts who review the case facts and what occurred. Then, they determine if the providers gave an acceptable standard of care. If not, they will testify to support your malpractice claim.
When you hire a medical malpractice attorney to manage your case, they will investigate what happened and identify the potentially liable parties, who might include the following:
- Doctors
- Surgeons
- Specialists
- Nurses
- Therapists
- Hospitals
- Clinics
What Damages Are Available in a Medical Treatment Errors Case?
The potential value of medical malpractice cases depends on the severity of the negligence and how it affects the patient. Thus, all parties involved must consider the long-term effects of the treatment error. Unfortunately, some people endure life-altering health issues due to medical negligence.
Compensation for medical malpractice can include money for the expenses and losses suffered by the victim. Our attorneys identify these costs, document them, and determine a fair settlement range before beginning the claims process.
Some of the recoverable damages common in these cases include the following:
- Current and future medical care expenses for treatment error injuries
- Ongoing care and support costs as needed
- Income losses and missed work due to injuries
- Reduced earning ability if there are long-term impairments
- Miscellaneous expenses with receipts
- Pain and suffering and other noneconomic losses
Can Treatment Errors Affect a Patient for Decades to Come?
Depending on the circumstances, some treatment errors can cause life-long impairments for patients. For example, when patients receive an incorrect treatment, they must still undergo the necessary treatment for the initial diagnosis while dealing with side effects, complications, and injuries from the improper treatment.
Throughout this process, their original illness or injury could worsen, thus making the patient’s possible outcome much worse than it was when they initially came in for treatment. This outcome could even include living with a catastrophic injury. In the worst-case scenario, it could lead to their death.
What Should I Do if I Suffered Injuries Due to Treatment Errors?
If you suffered injuries due to a treatment error and want to learn more about pursuing a medical malpractice case, you should speak to an attorney near you who handles these cases. In Los Angeles and nearby areas, our attorneys from KJT Law Group are available.
In California, there is generally a medical malpractice statute of limitations of three years per CCP § 340.5. This deadline applies to filing the initial paperwork to begin your case. However, we must take several steps before filing a lawsuit. For this reason, we ask you to contact us as soon as you discover medical negligence.
Discuss Your Treatment Error Injuries With Our Medical Malpractice Team
KJT Law Group provides free consultations for victims of treatment errors and other types of medical malpractice. You can trust our team to assess your options and discuss how we can help. We are here for you when you need us most. Contact us today to get started with your free initial case consultation.