Euless Medical and Dental Malpractice Lawyer Assisting Victims
When you enter your doctor’s office, or even your dentist’s office, the last thing you expect is that the trip will leave you worse for wear. You might have concerns about your health, and the trip reveals a negative, but that was something that existed apart from the visit to the doctor’s office.
Unfortunately, many Americans actually end up all the worse for deciding to consult a medical professional. When a medical practitioner makes a careless, reckless, or negligent decision that then negatively impacts your wellbeing, that is medical malpractice, and it can happen at any stage in your doctor’s visit.
Medical malpractice is a very serious issue since medical professionals have access to us at our most vulnerable, and the idea that they are knowledgeable on the subject lets us put a lot of trust in them. When a medical professional betrays your trust and leaves you suffering, it’s a good idea to speak to a medical and dental malpractice attorney like those at The Wolf of Law Street to learn how the medical professional that wronged you could be held accountable.
How Does Medical or Dental Malpractice Occur?
Medical or dental malpractice occurs when a medical professional behaves in a way that is negligent, reckless, or careless. However, this alone would not be enough to commit medical malpractice. That negligent, reckless, or careless behavior must also result in another person’s negative medical outcome.
For example, if you went to see your doctor and found that they were too busy paying attention to a ball game to listen to what you had to say and then just waved you along, that would be a frustrating experience. But it wouldn’t necessarily be medical malpractice because there was no negative outcome beyond the upset feelings.
However, if you were there not just for a regular checkup but because you were concerned about a symptom you noticed, the doctor told you it was probably just a cold and sent you off to get cold medicine, then you may have grounds for a medical malpractice suit should you actually have had a much more impact illness.
Medical malpractice isn’t just something that doctors commit, though they are the most common culprits. Nurses, dentists, anesthesiologists, and any other person you interact with within the medical world may find themselves guilty of committing medical malpractice. This is because there are just so many opportunities for somebody to act in a negligent, careless, or reckless manner and so many different ways in which a person’s medical wellbeing can be put on the line.
It is important to note that medical malpractice isn’t simply getting a negative outcome from a medical professional or procedure. Doctors can’t cure everything, and sometimes the best possible course of treatment may still result in a negative outcome.
Who Can Be Guilty of Committing Medical or Dental Malpractice?
Medical malpractice can be committed at almost any step of a professional medical procedure or appointment. Some ways in which medical or dental malpractice is committed are:
- Premature discharge
- Unnecessary surgery
- Incorrect surgery
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to diagnose
- Bedsores
- Persistent pain after surgery
- Potentially fatal infections
- Operating on the wrong body part
- Leaving objects inside the patient after surgery
- Not following up
- Failure to order the appropriate tests
- Failure to act on results
- Prescribing the wrong dosage
- Prescribing the wrong medication
- Facial paralysis
- Anesthesia errors
- Improper use of dental utensils resulting in nerve damage
- Excessive force resulting in jaw disorders
- Root canal errors
- Negligence in fitting or installing dentures
- Injury to an oral cavity
- Defective dental products
Unfortunately, this list is but a small portion of what can go wrong in the medical world.
These errors may be made by any number of medical practitioners. It’s important to remember that most of the people you encounter when seeing a doctor or a dentist may be responsible for your medical malpractice, which often makes it necessary to investigate the situation thoroughly.
Medical professionals that can be held liable for medical malpractice include:
- Physicians
- Registered nurses
- Dentists
- Podiatrists
- Pharmacists
- Chiropractors
- Optometrists
- An ambulatory surgical center
- A hospital
- A hospice
- A home support services agency
- A community support services agency
- A health services district
- An emergency medical services provider
- An assisted living facility
- A care facility for special needs
- A nursing home
- An officer, director, shareholder, member, owner, manager, or partner of a health care provider or physician
- An employee or an independent contractor of a health care provider or physician
The person responsible for the malpractice may not be the doctor that treated you but a policy that they were forced to work with due to a decision of a higher up. This is why it’s important to investigate your medical malpractice thoroughly to ensure the proper parties are held accountable.
What Are the Consequences of Medical and Dental Malpractice?
Medical malpractice can have an endless number of consequences. Both medical and dental malpractice may result in issues that persist throughout the rest of a patient’s life, and that’s not even mentioning when the malpractice leads to wrongful death.
It can be incredibly expensive to deal with the consequences of medical malpractice since they often require further or ongoing medical assistance themselves.
When Should I Contact an Attorney?
Medical malpractice should be taken seriously, and that means you should contact an attorney as soon as you suspect it to have occurred. This will give your attorney plenty of time to investigate and build a case, ensuring that the proper parties are held responsible for their actions.
Doctors make enough money to hire experienced attorneys of their own, so you know they’re going to do their best to build a solid defense against your accusations. The only way to win is to prove them wrong, and that means gathering evidence that backs up your argument. The more time available to investigate, the better the chances of finding the evidence you’ll need to win your case.
If you believe that you have been a victim of medical or dental malpractice, The Wolf of Law Street wants to hear from you. Contact us at (972) 573-4532 to share your story and learn more about how The Wolf of Law Street can help you.