There is no room for error for people who work in medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics. A wrong diagnosis or poor surgery can cause a patient’s life. If you’re a patient who experienced medical malpractice, speak with a Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyer to protect your legal rights.
What is a Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice happens when a health care provider fails to provide the appropriate treatment for the patient. It also includes disregard to take any applicable action. Another is providing poor-quality treatment that results in harm, injury, or even death.
Los Angeles Medical Malpractice Lawyer: Factors Involved in a Medical Malpractice
Negligence in providing a proper standard of care. Health care professionals have a duty of care to their patients and must adhere to certain principles. If they don’t, they’ll possibly deal with an accusation of negligence.
Negligence caused an injury. If you feel there’s negligence on the part of the medical staff, but no harm or injury occurred, it means no claim. As a patient, you need to establish that negligence caused you harm or injury. If not for the doctor’s or nurse’s negligence, you won’t suffer pain and other damages.
The sustained injury has damaging effects. You must demonstrate the harm or injury the medical negligence has caused that led to significant damages. It includes:
- Persistent pain
- Disability or impairment
- considerable loss of income
- Suffering
- Lasting hardship
Medical staff or personnel acted recklessly while providing care. You must prove that their negligence resulted in injury. Here are the four legal principles that you need to prove:
- A professional duty owed to the patient
- Violation of such duty
- Injury or damage the breach caused
- Ensuing damages
It also includes not doing anything when they must have done something. It is potentially considered as a failure to act or carelessness.
Discontentment of how the treatment went doesn’t mean it’s negligence already. It’s malpractice if there’s negligence that caused harm or injury to the patient.
Informed Consent
This is a method of conveying between you and your health care provider. It usually results in approval for care, treatment, or services. As a patient, it’s in your best interest to ask and get information before any medical procedures take place.
What are the Reasons for Error and Malpractice?
Many errors and malpractice occur in hospitals, clinics, or nursing homes for different reasons. When it happens, negligence can result in a victim filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. These reasons include:
- Failure to provide an accurate diagnosis
- Purposeless or mistaken surgery
- Early discharge of the patient
- Neglectfulness to perform relevant tests or follow up on results
- Wrong prescription or dosage administration
- Pressure ulcers or bedsores
- Forgetting things inside the patient’s body, such as sponges or surgical instruments
- Performing surgery on the patient’s wrong body part(s)
- Patient experiences periodic pains following a surgery
- Possible fatal contagions acquired in the hospital, such as viruses like Covid-19
How Long Do You Need to File Your Medical Malpractice Claim?
Generally, patients who experienced medical malpractice file a claim within one year after discovering the injury. This is usually known as the “discovery rule,” wherein claims need filing in three years regardless of the injury’s recovery.
Did you suffer injuries or become aggravated due to the negligence of a doctor, nurse, or other medical professionals? Talking to an experienced Los Angeles, medical malpractice lawyer is extremely important to help you file a claim. When you file beyond the allowed timeframe, you lose the right to recover damages and loss.
However, every rule has an exception. Some situations will pause the statute of limitations “timer” in medical malpractice cases. It includes:
- The health care provider(s) intentionally hid the medical error
- Inadvertently leaving a foreign object inside the patient’s body during surgery
Notification for the Allegedly Accused Health Care Provider
In California, you need to send the defendant a notification of a lawsuit that you’re filing against him or her. It should be at least 90 days before you file the case.
You don’t need any specific format when sending the notification. The important thing is you notify the alleged accused person of:
- The lawful grounds of your claim
- The kind of loss endured
- The characteristic of suffered injuries
Moreover, the law also states that when you serve the notification within 90 days, the time limit for filing a lawsuit will extend another 90 days from the serving of the notice.
Did You Experience Medical Malpractice? Big Ben Lawyers are Here to Help You
If you or a loved one suffers minor or critical injuries because of a medical provider’s negligence, don’t hesitate to call the Big Ben Lawyers for help. Our team of Los Angeles medical malpractice lawyers has an interest and background in Medicine. That’s why we all have the potential to help establish a strong case.
Moreover, we have the knowledge and expertise to handle the case with insurance companies, including other parties. We’ll walk you through the process from start to finish. Let’s talk about your case. Call (818) 423-4878 at no obligation.
Big Ben Lawyers
144 N Glendale Ave.
Suite 250
Glendale, CA 91206