Paducah Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Examples of Medical Malpractice

One study published in the Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research journal and re-published by the National Library of Medicine spells out what medical malpractice is. The study authors describe the concept as referring to “any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient.”

As you can likely tell, a wide range of scenarios may then qualify as medical malpractice, including the following:

• Failures to properly diagnose a patient in an emergency room
• Not taking a comprehensive patient health history to know if certain medications may be contraindicated for them
• Failing to perform an informed consent of a patient to advise them of risks associated with a procedure
• Misreading an X-ray and, thus, failing to properly diagnose a patient
• Anesthesia errors
• Wrong-patient, wrong-site (body part) surgical errors
• Birth injuries
• Prescription drug under or overdosing or incorrect prescription drugs being administered

The list above is far from exhaustive. There are countless other errors that someone in the medical field could make that could jeopardize the health of a patient. Those, too, could be examples of medical malpractice that could allow you to take legal action against the responsible parties.

Who Can Be Held Liable for Medical Malpractice?

We hinted at some of the professionals that may make an error in judgment that may lead to a patient suffering harm above, which included:

• Radiologists
• Emergency room physicians
• Nurses
• Surgeons
• Anesthesiologists
• Obstetricians

However, there are countless others involved in treating patients for the wide variety of ailments they may present with, both in and outside of a hospital setting, that may be negligent, causing patients harm, such as:

• Medical centers
• Mental health counselors and psychiatrists
• Dentists and oral surgeons
• Chiropractors
• Pharmacists

In other words, doctors or nurses are not the only ones who can be responsible for a patient experiencing an adverse event in a medical setting. A wide range of parties can be.

Also, while more of a product liability issue, there are situations where medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies can also be held liable for their role in harming you.

So, no matter what or who you believed harmed you, leaving you with injuries, you owe it to yourself to let a Paducah medical malpractice lawyer investigate what happened and advise you of the rights you may have under Kentucky law. We offer free consultations to victims of negligence like you at Prince Law Firm.

Compensation for Medical Errors

If successful in filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Kentucky, you may be eligible to be compensated for damages such as:

• Current and future medical costs
• Present lost wages and any diminished earning capacity you may have affecting your long-term
• Pain and suffering

In some rare cases, victims are also entitled to punitive damages. These are generally imposed when it’s proven that a defendant’s actions significantly deviated from standard operating procedures. One of the main purposes of imposing this type of damages is to encourage the defendant and any others who may engage in similar recklessness to reconsider their choices before taking action.

How a Paducah Medical Malpractice Lawyer Proves Liability

Anyone can attempt to pursue a medical malpractice claim in McCracken County. However, in order to have a successful case, you, as the victim, must be able to prove the following elements of negligence:

• That a healthcare provider/patient relationship existed and, thus, they owed you a standard of care
• The medical professional treating you violated the standard of care they were supposed to uphold
• You suffered harm because that healthcare practitioner deviated from standard protocol when treating you
• You have incurred documentable losses because that medical provider harmed you

Many prospective clients are under the false impression that, simply because they experienced an adverse outcome, that’s evidence enough that some wrongdoing was involved. That’s not necessarily the case, though. There are inherent risks associated with any medical procedure or surgery, which is why doctors must perform an informed consent procedure to ensure you understand those.

It’s not uncommon for Paducah medical malpractice lawyers like ours to bring in medical experts to carefully analyze cases, not only before taking them on but before attempting to discuss these legal matters with insurance adjusters or take your case to trial, too.

The Role of Medical Experts in Strengthening Your Case

Since building an insurance claim or civil lawsuit as complex as a medical malpractice one can be challenging, it often requires us to bring healthcare professionals to review your case and contribute their knowledge as to whether negligence may have occurred.

To do this, these professionals will carefully review your health history and more current medical records pertaining to the onset of your illness or injury. They may additionally aid your legal counsel in devising questions to ask witnesses during depositions and carefully analyze their responses alongside records once completed. These are just a few examples of the value medical experts we work with can play in helping your attorney better understand potential causation for what happened to you.

You can count on our law firm to bring in any necessary experts to determine where your physician or other healthcare provider may have breached their standard of care and, thus, are liable for the harm you suffered.

Contact Prince Law Firm If a Health Professional Injured You

People make mistakes all the time, and doctors and other healthcare professionals are humans and do the same. While it may be okay to forgive small errors that others make that don’t cause significant harm, bad choices made by medical providers have the potential of being exponentially more harmful to victims than many other oversights.

As you’re well aware, these situations can cause serious health setbacks, lifelong impairments, and preventable death. If you let these errors go unpunished, you not only end up having to pay the price yourself for what happened instead of the responsible party, but it puts you and others at risk of having a health provider repeat the same mistake again—with even worse consequences the next time around.

Contact us at Prince Law Firm instead. We’ll put you in contact with a Paducah medical malpractice lawyer when you reach out, with whom you can discuss what happened to you or a close family member and what rights Kentucky law may give patients who’ve fallen victim to healthcare provider negligence. This meeting will not cost you anything, so be sure to contact us online now.