If you or a loved one have experienced medical malpractice, you may be entitled to significant compensation. Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, resulting in injury or even death. An Arcadia personal injury lawyer can help you understand your legal options.
Malpractice cases are incredibly challenging. Doctors and other healthcare professionals are afforded more consideration due to their extensive schooling. You need a compassionate and skilled medical malpractice attorney in Arcadia to fight for the compensation you deserve.
Common Medical Malpractice Scenarios
Medical malpractice can be devastating. Healthcare professionals are some of the most trusted people the public looks to for help. Unfortunately, preventable errors can occur, causing patients unnecessary suffering.
Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis
Doctors have a duty to correctly diagnose medical conditions in a timely manner. Failing to do so can allow illnesses to rapidly progress. For example, a doctor may miss signs of a serious disease, leading to a delay in treatment.
Another scenario could be that a doctor may incorrectly diagnose a condition, resulting in improper treatment. Misdiagnoses often involve life-threatening illnesses like heart attacks, strokes, infections, or aneurysms. The patient presents symptoms, but the doctor fails to recognize the real underlying condition.
Delayed diagnosis similarly allows treatable conditions to advance unchecked. Doctors may order inadequate testing, fail to follow up on abnormal test results, or ignore symptoms that require further investigation. A leading example is delayed cancer diagnosis. Warning signs get overlooked until the cancer spreads, compromising recovery.
Childbirth Injuries
Childbirth complications can sometimes be attributed to medical negligence. This includes injuries to the baby, like cerebral palsy or brachial plexus injuries. It can also include birth injuries to the mother.
Babies can experience oxygen deprivation during labor and delivery if warning signs are ignored. Lack of oxygen can damage brain cells, resulting in cerebral palsy characterized by impaired muscle coordination. Mishandled deliveries can also overstretch or sever nerves in a baby’s neck and shoulder area.
Mothers face risks like excessive blood loss or untreated infections during childbirth. Deficient monitoring can miss signs of hemorrhaging after delivery. Failure to spot or treat infections in the uterus can also have severe consequences and deserves a case review by a medical malpractice lawyer in Arcadia.
Surgical Errors
Botched surgeries may happen due to the surgeon’s negligence. This can involve cutting tissue that should not have been cut, leaving surgical instruments inside the patient, or operating on the wrong site. Surgical errors can cause severe infections, organ damage, or even wrongful death.
Cutting or removing the wrong tissue is termed a “never event” because it should never happen with proper care. However, overworked surgeons do sometimes operate in the wrong area. Undetected surgical tools left inside patients can cause internal scarring, blockages, intense pain, and other complications.
Even marking the incorrect surgery site demonstrates negligence and may lead to a medical malpractice claim. All surgical outcomes carry some risk. However, certain errors always breach the standard of care.
Types of Damages You Can Recover with Medical Malpractice
If medical malpractice results in serious injury or death, you can recover different types of damages by pursuing a claim within a year of the injury. You have a right to know what damages you could claim with a medical malpractice attorney in Arcadia. Some of the main damages available include:
Economic Damages
These damages compensate for quantifiable monetary losses. Examples include medical bills, lost wages if you cannot work, rehabilitation, and at-home nursing care costs. The goal is to put the plaintiff back into the financial position they would have been without the malpractice.
Medical bills in a malpractice case may include charges for initial emergency treatment, hospitalization, drugs, medical devices, surgery, and ongoing care for resulting health problems. Lost income covers the plaintiff’s lost ability to work and earn their regular wages. Additional economic damages factor in home modifications, transportation for medical visits, paid caregivers, and other disability-related needs.
Documenting these costs thoroughly is key to securing full economic compensation. Under California law, compensatory damages are capped. While the cap was raised this year, a skilled and experienced attorney will be needed to see you recover your full damages.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages account for more subjective quality of life losses. This includes compensation for physical pain, mental anguish, loss of companionship, and reduced enjoyment of life. There is typically no cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases.
Physical pain and suffering covers past pain since the injury, as well as expected pain moving forward. The severity, frequency, and duration of pain all affect valuation. Damages for mental anguish compensate for emotional trauma like depression, anxiety, PTSD, and fear.
Loss of companionship applies when injuries limit interaction with loved ones. Reduced enjoyment of life is an unfortunate result. However, you should know that an Arcadia medical malpractice lawyer can obtain payment for loss of mobility, activities, independence, and dignity due to the malpractice.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages target conduct exceeding normal negligence. This may involve intentionally concealing mistakes, performing procedures while intoxicated, or grossly deviating from the standard of care in a dangerous manner. Courts grant punitive damages only when a defendant acts with oppression, fraud, or malice.
The purpose is to punish and deter conscious wrongdoing, not just human error. You need to have strong evidence to prove punitive damages. An Arcadia medical malpractice attorney can help you with this.
Get a Free Consultation on Your Medical Malpractice Case Today
You should never have to go through your medical malpractice case alone. You are dealing with enough as you have injuries to heal. As long as you have proof, our team can help take most of the overwhelm off from you.
Contact our team for a free consultation. We will review your case thoroughly. Next, we will come up with a plan to achieve the most compensation possible.