When you’re getting medical care, you put your trust in medical providers to find the issue, treat it, and help you feel better. After a procedure or visit with a doctor, you may find that your original ailment isn’t healing or that you’re experiencing new symptoms. Sometimes, your condition could worsen or you could find that you’ve sustained injuries since seeing the medical provider. In these cases, you may have been a victim of medical malpractice. While it can be shocking to learn that a doctor has caused more harm than good, you may have legal options. An El Paso, TX medical malpractice lawyer from Buckingham Barrera Vega Law Firm will stand up for your rights.
Our experienced attorneys will fight for you to get justice. The consequences of medical malpractice can be costly—you may have lost time to treat an illness or now have to treat new injuries. The recovery process ahead of you could overwhelm everyone. We’re here to alleviate some of that burden. We’re going to advocate for you and always act in your best interests. We’ll guide you through the legal process and will be at your side every step of the way.
What Constitutes Medical Malpractice?
You may wonder if what you experienced was medical malpractice. To have an eligible medical malpractice claim, your lawyer will review your case to see if the following points happened:
- Doctor-Patient Relationship. The medical care provider agreed to treat you. This establishes the doctor-patient relationship.
- Standard of Care. The doctor needs to treat you within the standard of care, or how competent medical professionals with similar education could have treated you.
- Negligent Treatment. You were not treated within the standard of care and the care caused harm.
- Injuries and Losses. You sustained further injuries and damages because of the care you received.
You need to be able to show those points above to have an eligible claim. So, instances that don’t qualify as medical malpractice include overhearing medical advice at a social gathering, or looking something up online. As your El Paso, TX medical malpractice lawyer investigates your case, we’ll gather evidence to prove you have a valid claim.
Are Any of the Following Examples of Medical Negligence Familiar?
Our lawyers are familiar with the various ways that medical providers can cause harm. This may rise from inexperience, exhaustion, lack of attention to detail, and poor decision-making. While their actions may take only a moment, the harm it causes could affect you for a long time, and sometimes the rest of your life. Common examples of med mal includes:
- Surgical Errors. The surgeon could make a mistake during the procedure, like damage an organ, leave tools behind, or operate on the wrong limb or patient. Surgical errors can cause devastating damage and may require further surgery to fix the issue.
- Anesthesia Errors. When someone is giving the incorrect amount of anesthesia, they can have complications with waking up during surgery or having a hard time waking up after the procedure is finished.
- Failure to Obtain Informed Consent. Before a surgery, the patient is supposed to have information on what it is, how it can help them, and the possible risks. They provide written consent confirming that they’ve received this information and agreed to the procedure. If this didn’t happen, then the doctor failed to give the patient this information.
- Misdiagnosis. A doctor may misread tests or analyze the symptoms and come to the wrong diagnosis. This means they could prescribe the wrong treatment because they think the patient has something else. The original ailment can continue to go untreated.
- Failure to Diagnose. Sometimes, a doctor may not arrive at a conclusion when they should have been able to recognize the symptoms. This could happen in an emergency room where someone is exhibiting symptoms of a heart attack or stroke but don’t receive treatment in time.
- Medication Error. If a patient is given the wrong medication or the wrong dosage, they could suffer serious consequences.
- Hospital Error. When hospitals have poor administrative systems, patient information can be outdated or lost, which could means the patient could receive treatment that could harm them.
- Birth Injury. When those in charge of the delivery process are negligent, both the mother and the baby could be put at risk.
All these examples above can cause devastating injuries and other losses. While you’re doing your best to recover and move forward, it can be overwhelming to think about taking legal action on top of everything else. That’s where our medical malpractice lawyer can help. We know how med mal claims can be difficult and require experienced and compassionate lawyers to fight for their clients. That’s what we intend to do.
How Will an El Paso, TX Medical Malpractice Lawyer Fight for You?
We’re going to do everything we can to get you the justice you deserve. After we find out how you were injured, we’re going to examine the extent of your injuries and what it’s going to take for you to recover. Your medical bills and future care are damages that you wouldn’t have if the doctor had treated you within the standard of care. Our lawyers will seek compensation that covers your medical expenses.
Other financial expenses include lost wages, diminished earning capacity if you cannot go back to your job, and loss of earnings if you can’t go back to work. The days of lost pay while you rest and recover may feel like they’re adding up—but this doesn’t mean you need to force yourself to work when you’re not ready. Our lawyers will calculate the amount of lost wages while you’re recovering and include them in your compensation.
The other side of your losses may not come in the form of a bill or financial loss, but are still significant damages to your life. Pain and suffering because you’re living with injuries, mental anguish from the affects of what you’ve been through, and loss of enjoyment of life from the injuries preventing you from living your life as you did before the injury. Your lawyer will fight for you to recover these as well.
We understand how complex these claims can be and that you need to make sure everything is filed properly and on time. Your El Paso, TX medical malpractice lawyer will take care of this as well as consult expert witnesses who can provide testimony that will help show how the doctor who treated you did not treat you within the standard of care, and that your injuries were a result of malpractice.
Seek Your Legal Options with Buckingham Barrera Vega Law Firm
When you’re dealing with the damages after a medical injury or another form of improper treatment, you may want to accept the first settlement and move on. However, this may not cover the full losses that you’ve endured and may lead to financial issues later on. You can seek full and fair compensation.
While holding a doctor or hospital accountable for their actions can be nerve-wracking, you’ll have the support of an experienced med mal attorney at your side. Buckingham Barrera Vega Law Firm is ready to fight for your future. Call us today for a free consultation where you can meet with an El Paso, medical malpractice lawyer to start working on your case and getting you the justice you deserve.
