Doctors, nurses, other health care professionals, and even entire health care facilities may be guilty of medical malpractice. The most common medical malpractice claims include:
- Misdiagnosis: when a doctor tells you that you have a particular medical condition when you have a different condition or none at all.
- Medication errors: if you were prescribed the wrong medicine, your doctor prescribed the wrong dosage, or you were not told of potential side effects.
- “Never events”: these include obviously egregious mistakes, such as operating on the wrong body part.
- Unnecessary treatments and tests: if your doctor told you to undergo treatments or tests that you did not really need, and that ended up causing your injury.
- Poor coordination among practitioners: if you see multiple practitioners who do not apprise each other of your medical history, you could end up receiving redundant, incompatible, and harmful treatments.
Per Johns Hopkins Medicine, many instances of malpractice are not solely the doctor’s fault. The system of insurance claims and referrals that characterize modern American health care can make it difficult to properly coordinate care, increasing the risk of patient injury or death. In such cases, you may be able to sue the facility as a whole.
Filing a Lawsuit for Fair Compensation
If you are thinking of taking legal action against your health care provider, do your research and get the process started as soon as you possibly can. Per Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 74.251, you can submit a medical malpractice lawsuit two years from the date the malpractice occurred.
You can sue for both economic damages, which reflect your injury-related financial losses, and non-economic damages, which reflect your injury-related physical and emotional losses.
Examples of economic damages are:
- Medical bills: almost any type of medical treatment could fit this category, including physical therapy, hospitalizations, and home care services.
- Loss of wages: if your injuries forced you to take time off from work, costing you and your family much-needed income and benefits.
- Loss of employment: if your injuries prevent you from working in the field you trained for, forcing you to go through the trouble of retraining or give up working altogether.
By contrast, non-economic damages are:
- Reduced quality of life: if you can no longer get dressed, cook, or perform other basic activities without assistance.
- Pain and suffering: if the malpractice and/or conditions stemming from it have negatively affected your physical and mental well-being.
- Disability: if the malpractice cost you the use of one or more body parts. These could be external parts, like a limb, or internal parts, like an organ.
These are only partial lists of damages. Even if you do not see your exact injuries here, you may still qualify for compensation. You can speak with an attorney to find out for sure.
For a free legal consultation, call (972) 535-6377
The Ways a Lawyer Can Help with Your Medical Malpractice Case
If you are reluctant to start a claim or lawsuit when you are still dealing with the consequences of medical malpractice, that is understandable. These actions can be very stressful and take up a lot of your time. Instead of giving up on receiving compensation, consider hiring an attorney to manage your case. A lawyer can ensure you do not have to worry about:
- Collecting evidence: It is your lawyer’s job to find as much evidence as possible to support the claims and demands you make in your lawsuit.
- Speaking with the liable party: Your attorney will stay in touch with the party you are suing and deliver messages back and forth between you.
- Speaking with the insurance company: If the other side agrees to negotiate, your lawyer will represent you and fight vigorously for your compensation.
- Going to court: While many malpractice cases are settled out of court, an attorney can represent you at trial if it becomes necessary.
- Paying legal fees until the end: Many law firms work for a contingency fee. In other words, you do not pay them attorney’s fees unless you receive a settlement award at the end of your case.
Let Underwood Law Office Work for You
It does not matter if your situation is among the most common medical malpractice claims or if it is something obscure or unique—as long as you can demonstrate that malpractice occurred, you may be able to collect damages.
Let Underwood Law Office help you in this endeavor by providing you with a lawyer to fight for your rights. Call us at (972) 535-6377 to speak with a member of our team about your case for free. We serve clients in and around McKinney, Texas.
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