Do You Have A Medical Malpractice Suit?

If you are injured while you are under the care of a doctor, you may think that you have a medical malpractice suit. After all, your doctor is supposed to make sure that you are healed and cured, not let you get hurt. However, your case may not qualify as a medical malpractice suit. How can you tell if it does?

Standard of Care

The first requirement for a medical malpractice suit is for your doctor to have violated the standard of care. Standard of care means that your doctor treated you in an appropriate manner for your disease. There are several things that can define the appropriate treatment. For example, the standard of care takes into account your disease, your age, and your location. That means that the appropriate treatment for the same disease can vary from person to person. A 30 year old and an 85 year old with the same kind of cancer are going to have different appropriate treatments. No matter which patient you are, the standard of care requires that your doctor treats you in the manner which other people with your diagnosis are treated in your area.

Informed Consent

Any time that you undergo a medical treatment of procedure your doctor needs to make sure that you have informed consent. Informed consent means that your doctor has told you everything about the treatment, including how it works, what's involved, and all side effects. The doctor should have you sign a papers that make sure that you not only have been told all the information pertaining to your treatment or procedure, but that you also understand what is going to happen and what the effects may be. This part of a medical malpractice case is harder to prove. That's because your lawyer is going to only have your word that you didn't understand all the parameters of the treatment and so were injured due to your non-understanding. Your doctor is going to have paperwork that shows that they explained the treatment to you as well as all the side effects and consquences that can happen due to the treatment or procedure. It's going to come down to a you said/they said situation, so be prepared to demonstrate your lack of informed consent. 

If you think that you may have a good medical malpractice suit based on these criteria, you need to go see a personal injury attorney. They can tell you what they think and if your case has a chance of winning. 


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