What is medical malpractice?
Medical malpractice involves a medical practitioner breaching their duty of care to you by causing you foreseeable harm through a medical event (like surgery or procedure).
Medical malpractice is an extremely complex area of personal injury law, as insurance agencies will often try to prove that your disability or condition was pre-existing, rather than being caused by the specific medical malpractice event.
Common areas that experience medical malpractice include:
- Obstetrics
- Paediatrics
- Gynaecology
- Emergency medicine
- Surgery
- Orthopaedics
- Misdiagnosis
- Delayed diagnosis
- Drugs and drug reactions
- Cosmetic surgery
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FAQs
What are some examples of medical malpractice?
Some common examples of medical malpractice and negligence include:
- Healthcare practitioners carrying out treatment that causes you injury, harm or even death
- A healthcare practitioner taking the wrong action or making an incorrect diagnosis
- Inaction by a doctor or nurse in a situation where treatment should have been provided (such as an emergency situation)
- Injury or harm arising from the negligent undertaking of surgical procedures
How do you prove medical malpractice?
Medical providers (including hospitals, pharmacies, doctors and nurses) owe you a duty of care when they treat you. If medical practice or negligence has caused a mediation or prescription error to occur, then they’ve breached that duty and you could be eligible to claim compensation against them.
How long do you have to claim a medication error?
For medication error claims, time limits vary in different states. However, the usual case is that you’ll need to submit your claim within three years of the ‘injury’ occurring. If you’re lodging the claim on behalf of a child, then the time limits can vary state to state. Your best course of action is to contact a prescription error attorney as soon as possible, to maximise your chances of being able to receive compensation.
Who can I file a medical malpractice claim against?
Medical malpractice lawsuits can be filed against any kind of medical practitioner. This can include surgeons, pharmacists, healthcare specialists, dentists, nurses and hospital staff, physiotherapists, psychiatrists and midwives.
You can also claim medical malpractice against organisations or businesses like hospitals and pharmacies, depending on your individual circumstances. We rely on these people and organisations to perform their duty with reasonable skill and to a high standard that doesn’t cause injury. When injuries are sustained as a result of incompetence or medical mistakes, then a medical malpractice lawsuit can be launched.
How do I file a medical malpractice claim?
Your first port of call when making a medical malpractice claim should be to contact one of our medical malpractice attorneys here at LHD Lawyers. We’ll be able to assess your case either in-person at one of our offices or over the phone, to make sure we fully understand your unique situation and whether you have a medical malpractice lawsuit.
We’ll seek the opinions of medical experts before lodging your legal claim and representing you at mediations and settlement hearings. We also operate on a No Win No Fee guarantee, so if we don’t win your medical malpractice lawsuit for you – you won’t pay us a cent!
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