Medical Malpractice Help

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Medical malpractice is the improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional.

If you believe that you or your loved one has suffered as a result of a physician not performing their duties correctly then, you need to know what your rights are!  But first you need to examine if it is, in fact, a malpractice case before you jump the gun and go calling an attorney.  Ask yourself the following questions:

• Did your doctor fail to diagnose your disease in a timely manner?
• Was there a delay in your treatment that worsened your final prognosis?
• Did your doctor fail to order the correct tests in a timely manner?
• Did your doctor fail to provide you appropriate medical treatment in a timely manner?
• Did the injury in question occur while you or a family member was under the care of a physician, a hospital or a health care provider?
• Were you or your baby injured during childbirth?
• Did your prescription medication cause you injury?
• Did your doctor fail to refer you to a specialist in a timely manner, thereby causing your condition to worsen?
• Did your doctor fail to notice and act upon an abnormal test result?
• Did your doctor fail to fully disclose specifics of your medical condition or all the risks of your surgery? If so, was the injury a result of one or more of those undisclosed risk factors?
• Were you injured due to the use of faulty equipment during a medical procedure?
• Were you injured because the doctor or the hospital staff was not fully trained in use of medical equipment?
• Were you improperly rushed out of a hospital or from your doctor's care? Was that instrumental in worsening of your condition?
• Does the records show someone questioned the diagnosis, or the appropriateness of specific procedures, tests or treatment provided?
• Did your doctor or hospital fail to advise you or provide you the best treatment options for your condition?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions then you may have a case but remember that a person who alleges negligence must prove four elements:

1. a duty of care was owed by the physician
2. the physician violated the applicable standard of care
3. the person suffered a compensable injury 
4. the injury was caused in fact and proximately caused by the substandard conduct

1. Malpractice statistics show that less than half of 1% of the nation's doctors face any serious state sanctions each year. Approximately 2,500 serious disciplinary actions a year are taken against health care providers for medical malpractice.  
2. A recent study by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences provided some statistics that estimated as many as 98,000 patients may be killed each year in hospitals alone as a result of medical errors. Earlier studies also found that this was a serious national problem.
3. Statistics from a Harvard study showed 1% of patients treated in New York state hospitals were injured, with 25% of those resulting in death because of medical negligence. If those statistics were translated into nationwide, 234,000 injuries and 80,000 deaths would have been reported from negligence in American hospitals.
4. A similar study conducted in California found statistics that show approximately 1% of hospital patients had either been injured by negligence in the hospital or had been hospitalized because of negligent care. Those findings spread nationwide would have yielded an estimate of 249,000 injuries and deaths from negligent medical practice in one year.
5. Expanding these estimates to include general medical practice statistics outside of a hospital, the potential abuse by physicians is even greater. An in-depth interview with 53 family physicians revealed that 47% of the doctors recalled a case in which the patient died due to physician error. Only four of the total reported errors led to malpractice suits, and none of these errors resulted in an action by a peer review organization.
6. It is not unreasonable to estimate that at least 1 percent of doctors in this country deserve some serious disciplinary action each year. This would amount to 7,703 physicians being disciplined each year, a number that, unfortunately, far exceeds the actual number of physicians disciplined.
7. Statistics show that there are between approximately 44,000 and 98,000 people that die in hospitals each year due to preventable medical errors. A survey of doctors and other adults released in the New England Journal of Medicine found that more than a third of the doctors said they or their family members had experienced medical errors, most leading to serious health consequences. The cost to society in terms of disability and health care costs, lost income, lost household production and the personal costs of care are estimated to be between $17 billion and $29 billion. In contrast, the medical liability system costs $6.7 billion annually, about what is spent on dog food each year.
8. Only one claim is made for every eight injuries and plaintiffs drop 10 times more claims than they pursue. These medical malpractice statistics reflect the lack of proper representation by an attorney in a medical malpractice case. If you or a loved one has suffered from medical malpractice contact your attorney today. Don't be another medical malpractice statistic.

If you are seriously considering pursuing a malpractice suit, then you need to be able to do it in the most cost effective manner.  In order to do that you need to find an attorney that will help you win as well as leave you with a good amount of compensation once it is settled.  You can do this by contacting your attorney today!

Prior to meeting with your attorney you need to ensure that you have collected all possible information that will be needed to substantiate your case.  Gathering the information on this Free Medical Malpractice Check Sheet will be beneficial for your attorney to help in the legal process.

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