Seeking medical care shouldn’t be a gamble. When you go to the doctor’s office or hospital to get treated by your doctor or other practitioner, you should feel confident that the care you receive will leave you better off than when you entered. Unfortunately, that’s not always how it works. Sometimes medical professionals are negligent and make a mistake that leads to you suffering more.
Our Mission, TX medical malpractice lawyer has experience with situations where a patient has been the victim of medical negligence and suffers further injuries and damages than the illness or injury they already had. When you have an attorney from Buckingham Barrera Vega Law Firm on your side, you can have confidence knowing that we will fully investigate what happened so that we can hold the negligent healthcare worker responsible for their actions.
Common Instances of Medical Negligence
The most essential part of your med mal case will be proving that an act of medical negligence occurred. Your medical malpractice attorney will be able to guide you through your claim, but only after first establishing that there was an error in your care that was caused by your doctor’s negligence. Once your lawyer proves that there was a doctor-patient relationship that meant you were owed a duty of care, your doctor breached that relationship through their negligence, and their breach resulted in you suffering from injuries and damages, they’ll be able to continue with your case.
While proving that your doctor breached the duty of care, your med mal attorney will look into how they acted to determine exactly how they were negligent to build your case. Here are some of the more common instances of medical negligence that could have led to the injuries and other damages that you suffered:
- Misdiagnosis. When a doctor or other practitioner ignores the clear signs of an illness or injury, and diagnoses you with something else, that could be a misdiagnosis. Not only are you not being treated for what is really affecting you and allowing that condition to worsen, but since you were diagnosed with something else, the treatments from that could be negatively affecting your health as well.
- Missed Diagnosis. A missed diagnosis is similar to a misdiagnosis, except in this case, what is ailing you is completely missed. For example, if you’re exhibiting the clear signs of a heart attack when you go to the emergency room, and they immediately release you and say you’re just having heart burn, that would be missed diagnosis. These can be extremely dangerous because you don’t receive necessary treatment in time.
- Medication Errors. Medications need to be prescribed, dosed, and administered correctly in order to work effectively and not have any negative reactions for a patient. If a prescriber makes an error in dosage or medication type, or if the person administering the medication makes a mistake, it could cause serious problems or even death for the patient. Additionally, if a patient is given a medication that is a known allergy of theirs, that could also have severe consequences.
- Surgical Errors. Operating on a patient requires extreme care and precision. When the wrong site is operated on, an internal organ or blood vessel is nicked, or surgical tools are left inside the body, the patient could suffer from further injuries, infections, or need more surgeries to repair the damage done. They could also need far more time to recover than they originally were told.
- Anesthesia Errors. Just like medications, anesthesia can also be dangerous if it’s not given properly to patients. Whether a patient receives too little or too much anesthesia, they could suffer from serious side effects or even death. If they’re not monitored closely for adverse reactions, that could also be a form of negligence.
- Birth Injuries. If a doctor, midwife, or nurse isn’t careful, they could make serious mistakes that harm the baby or the mother. When a baby suffers from birth injuries, those damages could affect them for the rest of their lives, and lead to them needing more care in the future. Most of these can be avoided through caution.
All of these instances of medical errors and negligence could have been the causes of your injuries and damages and lead to you filing a med mal claim. Even if you don’t recognize what happened to you listed above, you still could have experienced medical negligence and could have a claim against your provider, the hospital, or any other entity responsible. Our Mission, TX medical malpractice attorney is here to support you through your claim.
Noneconomic Damage Caps in Texas
Another important aspect of your Texas med mal claim will be calculating the damages you’re owed. One of the types of damages you can recover are economic. Those are the physical costs you suffered from the instance of medical malpractice. Your lawyer will use documents like medical records, medical bills, and missed wages to determine how much you can recover economically.
In economic damages, you can recover the full extent of those costs that you suffered. However, in Texas, there are damage caps for your noneconomic damages. These are the more abstract costs that you’ve incurred, like pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Here are the caps that our state puts on these kinds of damages:
- $250,000 per claimant against a single practitioner or health care provider
- $500,000 per claimant against multiple practitioners or health care providers
- $250,000 per practitioner or health care provider in cases involving multiple practitioners
Damages can be complex, which is why you’ll need the help of our Mission, TX medical malpractice lawyer. We’ll guide you through the process so that you can get the full and fair compensation you’re owed for what you’ve been through.
Trust Buckingham Barrera Vega Law Firm
When you’ve experienced an act of med mal that left you injured and with damages, you shouldn’t have to worry about the legal process in getting justice. Our Mission, TX medical malpractice attorney will handle the legal side of things for you so that you can focus on your physical and emotional healing.
At Buckingham Barrera Vega Law Firm, we understand how difficult this can be. We’re dedicated to the people we represent and want to make this as easy as possible for you. Reach out to us today so we can schedule a free consultation and discuss your potential case.
