Medical Malpractice

The medical profession has always been acclaimed as the noblest of all professions as it alleviates the sufferings of humanity but not any longer, as commercialization has shrouded the noble aspects. Moreover, the greed for money has pushed care, safety and dedication to the bottom of the list of priorities with the result that medical malpractice have risen significantly in the past few years, leading to pain, injury and even death, which is borne out by the fact that nearly 80,000 Americans die each year partly due to medical malpractice.

Medical Malpractice signifies mistakes made by doctors or other medical professionals leading to damage to a patient. It is a specific legal term used in lawsuits instituted by its victims to get compensation for their sufferings. Such lawsuits involve mistakes such as: wrong diagnosis, inaccurate treatment, late diagnosis, inability to diagnose, surgical mistakes, medical errors, and other types of negligence. However, all mistakes of diagnosis cannot be classified as malpractices as the practice of medicine does involve certain amount of risks and margins of error.

Medical Malpractice occurs very frequently in the following diseases: Lung cancer, breast cancer, heart cancer, colorectal cancer (both colon and rectal cancer) and appendicitis. The probability of misdiagnosis, either in the form of late diagnosis or mismanaged diagnostic testing is very high and the effect of delayed diagnosis is disastrous, sometimes leading to death also. The monetary compensations awarded in lawsuits pertaining to the above medical malpractice are normally very large.

Although doctors and other medical professionals are covered by medical malpractice insurance against the claims from their patients, the rates of the insurance have now shot up considerably because of the escalating claims made by the victims, since the beginning of this decade. Moreover, many large insurance companies have discontinued this medical malpractice insurance business, as they have not been able to make any profit. This has also contributed to the increase in insurance rates.

The number of medical malpractice claims has seen a significant spurt and the reason for the same, though unclear, can be attributed to the increasing trend among people to become more litigious. Moreover the crisis of 1970s has contributed extensively towards making the people more conscious of the potential for litigating for compensation. The lessening of a close bond between families and their doctors has also contributed towards this trend. Medical experts are also being used to testify in such cases, leading to greater chance of getting justice.

It is not easy to win a medical malpractice case and to be able to do so you must overcome certain hurdles. The first stipulation that must be observed is that the case must be filed within the time limit set by the provisions of the law. You will lose your case, even if it is a valid case, if you wait too long. Different states and countries have their own stipulated time limits and criteria for filing such lawsuits. The time limit also depends on the type of lawsuit and the type of allegations leveled by the medical claimer.

The most important part is that the malpractice has to be proved as against the efforts of the opposing side to depict it as a medical error or some unfortunate adverse circumstance and not as negligence or malpractice. It is well-known that a certain amount of risk factor and side effects are always associated with surgeries, their procedures and the medication involved. A slight amount of injury during medical intervention is considered as standard and within acceptable “standard of care” and hence it cannot be construed as medical malpractice. Moreover, since some medical errors are labeled as “normal” it becomes very difficult to prove a malpractice case.