Medical malpractice is a term everyone has heard, but few truly understand. Over the years, the term has become a catchall for every instance of negligence in the medical community. However, true instances of medical malpractice are not as common as you might think.
To determine whether or not you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice, you first need to learn and understand medical negligence. Medical negligence is any action or failure to act by a medical professional that may cause harm to a patient. The key word there is “may.” If there’s no injury, medical malpractice probably doesn’t exist, as medical malpractice occurs when medical negligence causes harm to a patient. See the difference?
Here’s an example. If your doctor prescribes you the wrong dosage for a medication, but taking that wrong dosage doesn’t cause any physical harm to you, the doctor may be guilty of medical negligence, but he/she is probably not guilty of medical malpractice. However, if that wrong dosage leads to physical injury or harm, then you may have a medical malpractice case.
Truly determining whether or not you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice requires the help of an experienced medical malpractice attorney. If you believe your injuries or the injuries of someone you love was the result of medical malpractice, we strongly encourage you to contact an attorney immediately for a free consultation before doing anything else. The outcome of your injury claim may depend on it.
