Gadsden Medical Malpractice Lawyer

We put our trust in the hands of our medical professionals when we seek help for medical symptoms, conditions, and emergencies. When we’re sick, we expect them to help us get better. If we end up worse than when we started, it’s easy to feel betrayed. Unfortunately, this happens to many people every year. The Gadsden medical malpractice lawyers at Mezrano Law Firm are experienced in these cases. We have the strategies it takes for the complexities of a medical malpractice case. Let us work to ensure you’re compensated for your injuries, and the negligent parties are held responsible for their actions. Talk to us today about how we can help you heal.

What is medical malpractice?

A Johns Hopkins University study estimated that more than 250,000 deaths per year in the United States are due to medical negligence – making medical errors and malpractice the country's third leading cause of death. And, even more, patients suffer serious to permanent injury due to medical negligence.

In the eyes of the law, medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor, or another medical professional causes a patient personal injury, whether through a negligent act or a failure to properly act. Examples of medical negligence can be errors in diagnosis, treatment, management of an illness or condition, improper aftercare, mistakes during a procedure, or failure to diagnose.

Additionally, this act (or failure to act) must violate the standard of care another reasonable medical professional would have taken under similar circumstances. There must be a direct link between this negligence and the patient’s injury to show that malpractice occurred. Finally, the injury must have resulted in damages or losses to the patient – like pain, lost income, or disability.

More concrete examples of medical malpractice include:

• Anesthesia errors. Several complications can arise during anesthesia administration, including using too much or too little, delayed delivery, or using the wrong kind. This can cause overdose, traumatic pain, or allergic reaction.
• Doctors under the influence. There is no excuse to practice medicine or perform surgery under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Medical professionals who do this even once put dozens of patients at risk.
• Drug prescription errors. A patient can suffer severe or fatal injury if given the wrong or incorrect dose of medication or the wrong drug altogether. This can happen when a pharmacist or nurse misreads labels or prescriptions.
• Misdiagnosis/failure to diagnose. Misdiagnosis can mean an incorrect, missed, or delayed diagnosis, causing delayed treatment. These types of claims typically fall under the violation of the standard of care we talked about earlier.
• Misreading or ignoring test results. Our doctors should have a wealth of information to diagnose our condition, like X-rays, CT scans, or MRIs. If they misinterpret or disregard these valuable test results, patients’ conditions can go untreated or be misdiagnosed.
• Premature hospital discharge. When people recovering from surgery or pregnancy are discharged too early, they can suffer complications involving emergency procedures. Sometimes a simple procedure can become a severe injury due to another’s negligence.
• Surgical errors. Surgical errors can encompass anything from a surgeon committing a mistake during an operation, like leaving an instrument in the body and causing an infection, to a surgeon performing unnecessary surgeries on their patients, causing complications.

All medical personnel – doctors, surgeons, nurses, obstetricians, pharmacists, and other professionals – must be held accountable when they harm patients due to carelessness or recklessness.

Is my injury the result of medical malpractice?

Often, there can be confusion about what does and doesn’t constitute medical malpractice. Here are a couple of examples of unfortunate medical outcomes that are not malpractice:

• If you receive specific instructions about follow-up care after a procedure, don’t follow it, and develop an infection, you likely will not have a medical malpractice case.
• If your doctor treating your condition with informed consent about the procedure, but your illness didn’t improve, you likely don’t have a malpractice case.
• If you undergo minor elective surgery that proceeds normally but are unhappy with the outcome, it’s unlikely malpractice occurred.

It may appear your doctor failed you, but they may not necessarily have acted negligently. However, in any case, where you feel your medical professional was careless, it’s always a good idea to consult with a skilled malpractice attorney for guidance.

Gadsden area hospitals and medical malpractice risks

As a potential patient in the area, you may wonder if the local hospitals are safe. The Leapfrog Group, a patient safety advocacy organization, ranks hospital safety nationwide, grading hospitals on safety records, surgical errors, staff, and infection rates.

A search for Gadsden area hospitals includes the following information:

• Gadsden Regional Medical Center, Gadsden, AL: Grade C
• Riverview Regional Medical Center, Gadsden, AL: Grade A
• Marshall Medical Care South, Boaz, AL: Grade C

What is informed consent?

Patients have certain rights about their medications, when undergoing surgery or any medical treatment and procedure. You have the right to know what to expect from your procedure, how it should proceed, how your medication is supposed to work and any side effects to expect.

Medical professionals must provide certain information to their patients so they can make clear and informed decisions about their health. This information should include:

• Proper diagnosis of condition or injury
• The recommended course of treatment
• Likely prognosis if the patient forgoes procedure or treatment
• Available alternatives, along with comparable risks and benefits

This information allows the patient to make an informed decision, known as informed consent.

Dedicated Gadsden medical malpractice attorneys

The experienced legal team at Mezrano Law Firm has represented the rights of injured patients in Gadsden for decades. If you put your trust in the hands of medical professionals and they cause you harm, we will hold them accountable.