Getting wrapped up in a lawsuit is never on anyone’s wishlist, but it is a necessary part of a free society. One of the primary reasons the courts and judicial systems were established were to hold businesses and providers responsible for mistakes and negligence and, unfortunately, the health care field is no exception.
The fact of the matter is medical malpractice lawyers are crucial in protecting the rights of those harmed by the ones that are meant to treat them. In fact, medical malpractice statistics show negligence is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). On average, medical malpractice lawyers win about $363,000 for settlements won in the inpatient setting. Healthcare mistakes in the outpatient setting average around $290,000.
Here are three of the most common reasons to hire a medical malpractice lawyer.
- Birth Injury Lawyer: Birth injury rates are some of the most common areas of malpractice law. Approximately seven out of every 1,000 babies born will be born with a birth injury. This can happen naturally, but often times it comes at the hands of a negligent clinician. Cerebral palsy, for example, is one condition that needs to be properly vetted when it is first discovered in the child since it can be naturally occurring or the result of medical malpractice.
- Surgery: Any time a person decides to go under the knife they are taking a great deal of chance, but that doesn’t mean the health care provider doesn’t need to be held to a high standard. There are many errors, bad judgement calls, and blatant/negligent mistakes that can come at the hands of professionals. Sometimes they can even try to cover these up without you ever knowing about it. You need a medical malpractice lawyer to fight for you in these cases.
- Misdiagnosis: Many misdiagnoses don’t rise to the level of malpractice, but if it is a significant error that should be reasonably expected to not happen by a professional and results in something serious like death it could rise to the standard.
There are many different forms of medical malpractice, but these are some of the more common ones to keep note of.
