You rely on your doctor to provide a high standard of treatment and care to ensure that you have the support you need to manage your medical conditions. Whether you need a diagnosis for concerning symptoms or treatment for specific ailments, you trust that you can turn to your doctor. Unfortunately, sometimes, medical professionals may not provide the standard of care their patients deserve.
Have you suffered medical malpractice that led to increased medical costs or continuing symptoms? A Tampa medical malpractice lawyer can help you learn more about your rights and provide vital support as you move forward with a medical malpractice claim. Contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Perenich Law Injury Attorneys today for your free consultation.
Perenich Law Injury Attorneys Can Help Tampa Medical Malpractice Victims
Establishing medical malpractice in Tampa can feel incredibly frustrating, especially if you have considerable symptoms resulting from that act of malpractice. At Perenich Law Injury Attorneys, our attorneys have considerable experience helping Tampa medical malpractice victims obtain the compensation they may deserve for their injuries.
Take a look at some of our past claim results.
- $10,000,000 settlement for failure to diagnose and treat viral meningitis
- $7,950,000 settlement for failure to monitor a patient following cardiac surgery
- $2,630,000 settlement and verdict for medical malpractice related to a cervical spine injection
- $825,000 recovered for medical malpractice that led to the death of a patient who needed blood transfusions
- $750,000 settlement to the family of a victim who died following surgery
Our past claim results cannot guarantee the results of your claim. However, we do work with all our clients to help them understand the full compensation they may deserve for any medical malpractice event they might suffer, seek the evidence they need to establish a claim, and pursue the compensation they deserve.
Working with a well-practiced medical malpractice lawyer in Tampa can help you present your claim in a clear, compelling way, increasing the odds that you will recover the full compensation you deserve for those injuries.
Common Types of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can occur in various ways, depending on the type of treatment you need and the act of negligence committed by the doctor.
#1. Failure to Diagnose
When you experience clear symptoms of a specific ailment, your doctor should arrive at a relatively easy diagnosis. Unfortunately, some doctors may ignore those symptoms and fail to diagnose your condition.
Failure to diagnose your ailment may mean that you do not receive the treatment you need to recover, leading to increased overall symptoms. Furthermore, failure to diagnose can cause you to worsen your symptoms.
Suppose, for example, that you suffer a broken arm, but the doctor who reviews your X-rays fails to note the extent of your injury. You might continue to use the limb normally, leading to a worse break and even requiring surgery when, based on the former injury, casting alone might have allowed you to heal.
#2. Misdiagnosis
Sometimes, instead of failing to diagnose a condition altogether, a doctor might misdiagnose your illness. Even though you clearly have signs of Condition A, the doctor might diagnose Condition B. You may receive treatment for Condition B, which may mean that you have to live with the side effects associated with that treatment—all while Condition A continues to worsen.
#3. Failure to Treat
Your doctor might diagnose your illness or ailment correctly but fail to provide the treatment you need for that condition. Often, failure to treat occurs because scheduling falls through the cracks or because a doctor rushes through an appointment in a hurry.
However, in some cases, failure to treat may occur because of intrinsic biases on the part of your care provider. For example, women may have a more challenging time getting a doctor to take their symptoms seriously and provide the treatment and assistance they need.
#4. Failure to Inform
As a patient, you have the right to information about the medical treatments you need and the potential side effects that go along with them. Patients have the right to make those informed decisions about their care and to have their rights and decisions respected as they decide what medical course works best for their needs.
You might choose not to move forward with a specific type of treatment if you know about the potential side effects, especially if those side effects outweigh the potential good of the procedure. If a doctor fails to provide you with the information you need to make that informed decision, and you end up suffering significant injuries, the physician may face liability for your injuries.
#5. Prescription Drug Errors
Most often, prescription drug errors involve inadvertent overdose. In the hospital, in particular, measuring medications may require careful attention, and an overworked and rushed nursing staff may not have adequate time to look twice at the medication you need for a specific type of treatment.
In addition, you may face prescription drug errors related to drug interactions: your doctor prescribes a medication known to have a hazardous side effect when taken in conjunction with another but does not warn you about those dangers. Prescription drug errors may also occur when a doctor prescribes a medication to which you have a known allergy.
#6. Birth Injuries
During childbirth, both mother and child experience immense vulnerability. Birth trauma occurs in an estimated 1.9 per 1000 live births, including a range of both major and minor injuries that occur as a direct result of the care team’s intervention, or lack thereof, during the birthing process. For example, birth trauma may occur because of incorrect vacuum or forceps use.
Birth injuries, including cerebral palsy, may also occur because a doctor fails to intervene on time when a mother or fetus starts to show signs of distress. Elevated fetal heart rate, dropping heart rate with contractions, and other signs that could indicate that the fetus does not tolerate labor well should all receive prompt intervention when needed, and failure to provide that care may leave the attending physician liable for any damage that occurs.
#7. Medical Device Errors
Many patients rely on medical devices to support their overall health and wellbeing. Replacement joints to pacemakers and other devices get implanted in a user’s body. When those devices have a serious design flaw or flaw in their manufacturing, they can pose a substantial danger to the user.
Each year, around 4,500 medications and devices get recalled in the United States. Meanwhile, countless patients suffer serious injuries because of those devices.
#8. Never Events
Never events include events that should “never” happen when a patient puts his health in a doctor’s care. Most often, never events occur during surgery.
They may include things like:
- Surgery on the wrong part
- Mismatched blood transfusions
- Post-operative deaths the attending physician or medical staff could and should have prevented
- Major medication errors, particularly in the hospital
- Leaving foreign material behind in the patient’s body
Establishing Grounds for a Tampa Medical Malpractice Claim
To establish that you have grounds for a medical malpractice claim, your Tampa medical negligence lawyer will want to know several key things about the event.
Did you have a doctor/patient relationship with the medical care provider that committed the act of malpractice?
When you file a medical malpractice claim, generally, you will file it against the provider that committed the act of malpractice against you. In some cases, that may mean a medical facility, including a medical facility that employs its doctors directly or a nurse employed by a hospital that commits medical malpractice. Many major medical malpractice events involve the specific physician whose negligence led to your injuries.
To claim compensation for medical malpractice from that provider, you may need to show that you had a doctor/patient relationship with that provider. You would not, for example, have the right to file a claim against every provider in a practice after one provider commits an act of medical malpractice, or against a doctor who happened to enter the room while you received treatment, but who did not contribute directly to your care or have a doctor/patient relationship with you.
Did the care provider violate the expected standards of care in some way while handling your case?
Sometimes, a care provider may do everything in his power to take care of the problem you have, but may not have the necessary tools to reach the appropriate diagnosis.
For example, sometimes, you may have a long road through tests and questions as you try to receive a diagnosis for symptoms that do not quite seem to fit the standards of a known condition. Other times, your symptoms may seem to indicate that you have one condition, when in reality, you have a different one entirely.
If the care provider offered the best possible standard of care based on available information, you may not have grounds for a claim. On the other hand, if the care provider did not provide the standard of claim you deserve, based on the care expected by a patient in your circumstances, you may file a claim
Did the care provider’s negligence lead to some type of suffering or damage?
To move forward with a medical malpractice claim, you will need to show that the provider’s act of malpractice or negligence against you caused some damage or suffering.
If you sustained a serious impact from a misdiagnosis, including negative side effects from a medication you did not need, ongoing infection, or even chronic illness, you may file a medical malpractice claim.
Recovering Compensation Through Tampa Medical Malpractice Claims
Medical malpractice can strike a substantial blow in your life. You may have trouble moving forward with your life while dealing with a chronic condition for which you cannot receive treatment, or you might have increasing medical bills related to the wrong treatment or the injury you sustained due to the provider’s negligence.
At Perenich Law Injury Attorneys, our proactive Tampa medical error attorneys can look at the losses you faced as a direct result of the care provider’s negligence and the compensation you may want to consider as in your medical malpractice claim.
Increased Medical Needs and Costs
Medical treatment can prove incredibly expensive. You may have significantly increased medical needs that leave you struggling to pay your bills. As part of your claim, you can include compensation for additional medical expenses that resulted from the provider’s act of malpractice.
Lost Income
Dealing with a significant illness or ailment may mean that you have to miss time at work, which can interfere with your finances during an already challenging time. As part of your medical malpractice claim, you can include the wages you lost due to your ailment.
Pain and Suffering
Medical malpractice can cause both considerable physical pain and immense emotional anguish. Most claims for medical malpractice will include compensation for the additional suffering you faced: both the pain related to the provider’s negligence and the overall suffering that goes along with the problems you suffered.
Get in Touch with a Tampa Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
When you know that a doctor has committed an act of medical malpractice against you, you need a skilled attorney on your side. The experienced team of lawyers at Perenich Law Injury Attorneys has helped many past medical malpractice victims seek the compensation they deserve. Contact a Tampa medical malpractice lawyer to learn more about your right to compensation after medical malpractice injures you.
(727) 669-2828