Medical practice is all about trust. Justifiably or not, people bring trust to their medical practitioners. Tradition tells them that doctors have privileged powers. And, pain and fear drive them to accept the doctor’s words and practice.
As an article in the Indian Journal of Urology explains, “Expectations of a patient are two-fold: doctors and hospitals are expected to provide medical treatment with all the knowledge and skill at their command and secondly they will not do anything to harm the patient in any manner either because of their negligence, carelessness, or reckless attitude of their staff.”
This trust in the doctor’s skills, knowledge, and experience sets up a contract. The trust and payment you bring to the doctor’s practice expect certain care and duties, and the breach of this duty of care deserves proper consideration and compensation.
Medical errors deserve proper consideration and compensation
“Deserving” and “securing” compensation for medical malpractice injury are two different things.
- Deserving has a subjective element. It takes time and expertise to identify the point of malpractice and the degree of fault. It takes talent and determination to fix a value on the loss and consequences — in terms of money, pain, and suffering.
- Securing consideration and compensation means dealing with insurance companies and attorneys defending the medical practice’s interests Admitting that the doctor has a right to a defense, the whole process burdens the injured patient.
This is not a do-it-yourself project. You need legal help for medical errors you experienced if you want to regain your life.
Regaining your life
In 2017, CBS News reported the rate of paid medical malpractice claims fell 56 percent between 19912 and 2014. ”At the same time, the average payout for successful malpractice claims rose about 23 percent — topping $353,000 in 2009-2014, up from about $287,000 during the 1992-1996 period.”
These “successful malpractice claims” are typically out-of-court settlements. They are accomplished by claimant attorneys who seek to secure the most reasonable award to compensate you for your loss in wages and earning potential, for immediate and continuing medical costs, for your pain and suffering, and more.
- Physician negligence may expose a patient to dangerous and unnecessary procedures.
- Medical error may delay necessary and effective care.
- Malpractice can lead to permanent disability and death.
Your doctor’s error may be obvious to you. But, it takes professional legal advice to prove that the doctor was negligent. You must prove another reasonable doctor would have taken a different direction in treating your problems.
It takes a legal professional experienced in medical negligence and malpractice to determine the expense and potential expense in regaining your life and making you whole.
And, it takes a qualified malpractice attorney to expedite the settlement that secures your compensation sooner than later without the lengthy trial process and risk.
Patients know their own bodies. They know what hurts and what is normal for them. Their body usually tells them what has gone wrong and what needs fixing. And, they trust their doctors will “do no harm” in their care.
When their doctor’s negligence creates or prolongs pain and suffering, they need legal professionals to restore their lives.
