Negative Effects of Medical Malpractice

Every year, medical malpractice is a serious problem for thousands of people across the country. Medical malpractice occurs when a heath care professional fails to provide a patient with a standard quality of care which results in injury or harm to the patient.

Medical malpractice can take place in any health facility by any type of medical personnel that can include doctors, nurses, hospital workers, dentists, eye doctors, surgeons,etc. An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) noted that 'every year in the United States 12,000 patient deaths occurred due to unnecessary surgery, 7,000 deaths were caused by medication errors in hospitals, and 20,000 deaths resulted from other errors in hospitals.' The Journal of the American Association for Justice stated that a decade ago 'as many as 98,000 people died every year from preventable medical errors, costing the nation an estimated $29 billion dollars.'

Medical malpractice can result from a number types of mistakes such as anesthesia errors, birth errors, defective drugs, or products, medical experimentation, improper diagnosis, medication errors, nursing home abuse, surgical errors, wrongful death, failing to take appropriate medical action, and much more.

Medical malpractice can negatively affect all aspects of one's life, from the physical and emotional damage to serious financial hardships. Such hardships can include:

- Loss of Work
- Loss of Wages
- Permanent Disability
- Loss of Quality of Life
- Loss of Future Wages
- Soaring Medical Expenses
- Long Term or Life Long Medical Expenses
- Chronic Pain
- Disfigurement
- Emotional Trauma

When a death occurs as a result of medical malpractice, negligence, or other liability, the surviving dependents or beneficiaries may be entitled to monetary damages in order to help pay for medical costs and other expenses incurred by the family of the victim.

'Medication errors are among the most common medical errors, harming at least 1.5 million people every year,' says a new report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The reported also reported that 'extra medical costs of treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone conservatively amount to $3.5 billion a year.' These costs have resulted in an increase in health insurance premiums.

Even after receiving sufficient information from patients, medical professionals can still make an incorrect diagnosis resulting in personal injury or death. If you feel that you have suffered an injury as a result of medical malpractice, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim. The best way to determine if you have a claim is to consult with an attorney that specializes in medical malpractice.

If medical malpractice has been confirmed, you will still have to prove that the malpractice resulted in injury or harm. If a medical malpractice attorney has proven injury or harm, then you may be compensated for:

- Medical Expenses (Current and Future)
- Rehabilitation
- Pain and Suffering
- Special health Care Assistance Devices and Equipment
- Care and Assistance in the home
- Loss of Wages (Present and Future)
- Travel expenses
- Punitive Damages

It is often difficult to know if you need a medical malpractice attorney. When you file a medical malpractice claim, your health care provider's insurance company may attempt to compensate you for the least amount possible. If you think you are the victim of malpractice, consulting with a lawyer that specializes in malpractice will help determine if there is a case. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer can help you recover compensation for many different types of losses due to the negligence of another working in the health care field.