8 of the Most Common Malpractice Claims

Medical malpractice affects millions of people every year. Medical malpractice can be intentional or due to negligence, as in the case of a doctor or nurse not paying enough attention during a procedure. Regardless, malpractice can be devastating or debilitating, and you or a loved one could have grounds for a lawsuit.

However, the success of your lawsuit is contingent on there being sufficient legal precedent for your claim. In this article, we’ll break down eight of the most common malpractice claims you can potentially file against an at-fault party.

Delayed Diagnosis

A delayed diagnosis may occur if a doctor or other healthcare professional takes too long to determine an underlying medical problem. This can be disastrous for a healthcare patient, as delayed diagnoses may cause any treatment to arrive or be administered too late.

You may have grounds for a delayed diagnosis claim if tests were missed, if you were not booked for important tests or checkups quickly enough, or if a doctor or medical professional overlooked anything.

Misdiagnosis

A misdiagnosis claim is similar to a delayed diagnosis claim, with one key difference: the healthcare provider was not late, but made the wrong diagnosis of your healthcare condition.

A misdiagnosis can occur if a doctor doesn’t recognize the conditions or illnesses that a patient deals with. This can lead to many other instances of medical malpractice, such as being prescribed the wrong medication, being given the wrong treatment, etc. Some instances of misdiagnosis can even be deadly.

Failure to Treat

If a medical healthcare professional fails to treat a diagnosed problem and they had an obligation to do so, you could have sufficient grounds for a malpractice lawsuit. 

A healthcare provider or facility may be guilty of failing to treat a patient in circumstances such as:



• Discharging a patient too soon
• Not providing adequate follow-up care
• Not following the standard of care needed for a specific condition

In these instances, wronged patients must prove that their healthcare providers did not give them the minimum standard of care they were owed or expected.

Surgical Errors

Surgical error malpractice can occur in surgical contexts and instances. Some examples of surgical errors include:

• Surgery occurring when it was unnecessary
• A surgeon caused avoidable damage to tissues, nerves, or organs
• A surgeon performed the wrong procedure
• The surgical instruments were not sterile and led to infection
• Medical equipment was left inside a patient
• Aftercare after surgery was inadequate

Surgery can be taxing on the body and may lead to complications. Thus, healthcare providers have a strong responsibility to ensure that every surgical procedure goes smoothly. If it didn't, you could have grounds for a lawsuit.

Birth Injuries

You may have grounds to file a malpractice claim against an OB/GRN for various birth injuries, including spinal cord injuries, nerve damage, cerebral palsy, and cephalohematoma.

Most birth injuries are caused by medical errors or lack of care and attention to the patient. Either instance could be sufficient grounds for a lawsuit. For example, if you receive a birth injury because your doctor did not listen to your symptoms in the middle of labor, they did not provide you with the right standard of care.

Anesthesia Malpractice

Anesthesia is used for most surgical procedures. However, if an anesthesiologist makes a mistake in administering anesthesia, it could lead to severe consequences like pain, brain injuries, fatality, and more.

You could have grounds for an anesthesia malpractice lawsuit if:

• The anesthesiologist or doctor administered anesthesia incorrectly
• You were not given the right instructions on what to do before or after receiving anesthesia

Pharmaceutical Malpractice

Healthcare providers have a responsibility to instruct patients properly regarding pharmaceutical medications. Prescription drug errors also count as a type of malpractice. If your healthcare provider prescribes the wrong medication or the wrong dosage, and you suffer negative healthcare consequences, you could have grounds for a successful malpractice lawsuit.

That’s because pharmaceutical errors can lead to negative side effects, particularly if they interfere or interact with other potentially harmful medications. To prove a pharmaceutical malpractice claim, you’ll need to show that negligence affected your medication prescription or how you took the medication.

Failure to Prevent Infection

Medical facilities and instruments must be kept very clean and sterile (as much as possible). If you receive an infection because of low cleanliness standards at a healthcare facility, you could file a successful medical malpractice lawsuit.

Technically, you can sue a healthcare provider for failure to prevent or treat infections that they cause. For example, if you were treated with unsanitary equipment, you could develop an infection that leads to other negative healthcare consequences. 

Furthermore, if a healthcare facility causes an infection and does not correctly treat it, that’s another instance of medical malpractice. Any infection can be quite dangerous, particularly those that are left untreated. They can eventually lead to sepsis, a possibly life-threatening condition.

Conclusion

As you can see, medical malpractice can occur at any stage of the healthcare process. If you or a loved one were injured due to medical malpractice, speak to knowledgeable malpractice attorneys and see if you can file one of the above common malpractice claims.

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not decide whether to contact a lawyer based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.