Going to the doctor is an anxiety-inducing event for many, even if you’re not dealing with any major health concern. If you also get excessively worried before an appointment or postpone making one for months on end, you already know what that feels like. It is definitely an unpleasant thing to be dealing with, but that doesn’t mean that visiting your physician doesn’t remain a very important thing to do. Going in for regular check-ups can help discover a health issue while it is still in its incipient stages, when it might not cause any symptoms at all.
Some of these illnesses can actually become quite serious if left unchecked, and later treatment might be more uncomfortable, expensive, or less efficient overall. The only way to protect yourself from disease and live a long and healthy life is to look after your health by going to the doctor regularly.
Unfortunately, sometimes doctors are wrong and end up making mistakes that cause additional harm to your health instead of solving the issue you were dealing with. This concept is known as medical malpractice and is quite large and complex in scope. Let’s delve into what it entails and what are your options if you believe it happened to you.
What is malpractice?
In simple terms, medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional deviates from the standard of care expected from their profession and ends up causing injury, harm, or even death to a patient. Malpractice can occur both as a result of negligence or due to omission and can present itself in a plethora of different ways. Misdiagnosis, failure to warn the patient about the side effects associated with medication or surgery, delayed diagnosis, wrong-site surgeries, issues with aftercare, or overall health management.
If you are absolutely certain that your health damage occurred as a result of malpractice, you can look for a guide on how to sue for compensation in order to understand the intricacies of the process and what you can expect.
Since the law is quite complex, it is always a good idea to work with an expert solicitor instead of handling the situation on your own. Your odds of having a successful outcome will improve considerably as you’ll have a more comprehensive view of the proof you need to bring and the ways in which you should present your case. There’s typically a maximum amount of time during which you can demand compensation, so if several years have passed, there may not be anything you can do anymore.
However, if the health damage was substantial and you needed to recover over an extended period of time, then your case might remain valid in the eyes of the law. The only way to determine if that’s your case is to contact a lawyer and discuss the particulars of your situation with them. Each case is different and should be approached accordingly.
What are the characteristics of malpractice?
The circumstances in which malpractice occurs differ from one case to the next, but there are three main traits that are considered in each instance. The first and most important is the ability to prove that the treatment has been inconsistent with the standard of care. This refers to the standardized behaviours and treatment recognized by the profession and has nothing to do with the ways in which the patient believes they ought to have been treated. The second characteristic is proving that injuries and health damage occurred as a result of the malpractice.
Thirdly, you must also be able to prove that the injury genuinely harmed your well-being. Unusual pain, disability, loss of income, suffering, and hardship are some of the ways in which this is determined. In the absence of these features, a medical negligence case won’t be seen as legitimate, and you will most likely not get any compensation.
Most professionals are potentially liable under medical malpractice legislation, including surgeons, psychiatrists, dentists, nurses (as well as physician assistants and midwives), and allied health professionals.
The last category refers to pharmacists, optometrists, medical radiation practitioners, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, podiatrists, and chiropractors. In some jurisdictions, medical malpractice may be allowed without a doctor’s mistake based on the idea and principle of informed consent.
Differences by country
The ways in which medical negligence is approached and its consequences will differ depending on the country or region. This is precisely why you need the help and assistance of legal professionals who can provide you with precise information on the procedure. For instance, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom decided in 2018 that the duty of care extends to information provided by clerical staff. This means that malpractice can be the result of an administrative mistake in the UK.
At the emergency department at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, a patient ended up with serious brain damage as a result of misleading information offered by a receptionist.
Between 2019 and 2020, the NHS received almost 12,000 medical negligence claims and incidents, an almost 10% increase compared to the previous year. In Canada, all provinces, with the exception of Quebec, which follows the civil law system, base malpractice on negligence. Sweden implemented a no-fault system to deal with the compensation demanded by those who were injured as a result of improper or inadequate treatments. The Accident Compensation Corporation offers no-fault compensation as well.
Germany allows patients to bring private action against providers, while in the US, tort lawsuits are often needed if you seek compensation. Here, the awards of compensation tend to be significantly larger than in many other parts of the world.
To sum up, if you believe you were the victim of medical malpractice, there are ways to get justice and remuneration for the costs you had to endure on your way to recovery. It’s not easy dealing with this situation, as the doctor is the one you see in order to get better. But it’s also crucial to remember that you can get your life back and return to normal.
