There are many factors to consider in personal injury cases involving medical malpractice. Due to the nature of medical injuries, malpractice cases can be difficult to process.
Proving negligence is challenging when these injuries result from a misdiagnosis. The following helps you determine what you need to prove in a personal injury case to be fully compensated for your injuries.
Understanding Malpractice
The laws related to medical malpractice protect patients against the failure of doctors and hospitals to meet their duty of care.
Proper medical care must include the correct application of assessments, diagnosis, and treatment based on what the medical professional sees in the patient.
Injuries or other damages caused by a doctor’s failure to provide competent care may entitle you to receive compensation.
The following may also cause injuries to patients and result in a personal injury lawsuit:
- Delayed diagnosis
- Missed diagnosis
- Overlooking existing or potential complications
- Misinterpretation of medical tests
- Incorrect application of medication
- Inaccurate test results
- Faulty medical equipment
Misdiagnosis and Personal Injury
A misdiagnosis doesn’t automatically prove a doctor’s negligence. This is a key point to consider, and plaintiffs must understand what’s required to achieve a successful outcome in a malpractice case.
Plaintiffs must demonstrate that doctors acted incompetently when diagnosing their condition. They must show the courts that another doctor would not have made the same mistake in the same circumstances.
Differential diagnosis is a process doctors use to determine how to treat patients. It involves creating a list of possible diagnoses followed by additional tests to determine the probability of each condition.
This includes obtaining more information related to the patient’s health history, applying further testing, and referring a patient to a qualified specialist. It allows doctors to rule out conditions and identify the cause of the patient’s symptoms.
Misdiagnosis occurs when a doctor fails to include a condition on the differential diagnosis list or fails to apply further testing for a condition that was included.
Getting Compensated for Malpractice Injuries
Medical errors are impossible to eliminate. That’s why doctors aren’t always held liable for errors made when diagnosing patients.
But patients who’ve suffered injuries from a misdiagnosis may be compensated for their injuries and damages.
They have to show that a doctor-patient relationship existed and prove to the courts that the doctor was negligent. Plaintiffs must also show that their injuries directly resulted from that negligence.
You can obtain compensation for other forms of harm including emotional distress and medical expenses for treatments that were unnecessary.
Proving these factors may be difficult without the right legal resources and the evidence needed to support your claims.
A personal injury attorney with experience in malpractice cases can guide you through the complex process. There are many rules that need to be considered, and the need for expert testimony and other evidence can be daunting.
The damages from malpractice arise in different ways. Loss of income and earning capacity, pain and suffering, and other damages must be established and proven to get the compensation you deserve.
Knowing how a misdiagnosis can lead to injury and proving a doctor’s negligence will ensure that you get the resources you need to recover from your injuries and restore your quality of life.
