Hospitals can get busy at times and doctors can be overwhelmed. A few Medical experts might make mistakes for various reasons. Several situations can be classified as Medical Malpractice and one simple error can worsen a patient’s condition.

If you have been a victim of negligence you might not know whether you are entitled to compensation. You might have considered filing for a medical malpractice claim but you do not know the right channels to use. You should contact a New Bedford medical malpractice lawyer who can analyze your cave and offer you the best legal options for pursuing your compensation.

When is the best time to file a medical malpractice lawsuit?

If you suspect that you sustained injuries caused by a doctor’s negligence you should sue for medical malpractice. The state of Massachusetts follows a rule called the statute of repose. it states that you have 7 years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit regardless of when you realised that you sustained injuries due to a medical error. The best time to file for a medical malpractice claim is if your case fulfills four specific elements. these elements are :

Duty of care

As long as you are in a doctor-patient relationship the doctor owes you a duty of care or they are obligated to provide competent and reasonable medical care. Duty is easy to prove because there is usually a clear distinction between who is and isn’t responsible for treating a patient. If you are admitted to a hospital, everyone who is involved in the diagnosis and treatment of your injuries or ailment owes you a duty of care.

 Deviation of Duty

This is probably one of the most difficult parts to prove in medical negligence. To prove breach of duty you need to show:

• The medical experts failed to act in accordance with the best practices for their field. 
• A medical expert in the same field under the same situation would have used a different procedure
• Any reasonable medical experts under similar circumstances would not have followed the same procedure

If your doctor, for example, prescribed twice the wrong dose of a potentially dangerous medication, your new Bedford Medical Malpractice Lawyer can get a medical expert in the same field to testify why the prescription was dangerous and abnormal.

Unfortunately, in the medical field, five Doctors might come up with five different diagnostic results when trying to figure out the best way to treat your ailment, especially if what you’re suffering from is a rare disease. If your doctor came up with the wrong diagnosis, it doesn’t imply that they were negligent even if your outcome wasn’t ideal.

An example of breach of duty could be your doctor performing unnecessary procedures or making surgical mistakes while under the influence of drugs or alcohol or prescribing the wrong dose of medication.

Damages

You and your lawyer need to prove that the doctor’s negligence resulted in damages. If, for example, your doctor prescribed antibiotics for a viral infection but you did not suffer any side effects from the medication, you might not have a case for damages. Keep in mind that damages do not need to be physical, you could also suffer financial or emotional damages. It’s easy to prove damages if the doctor’s negligence resulted in an expensive treatment or additional treatments to fix the mistakes.

• What are Punitive Damages in a Personal Injury Case?

Direct cause

You need to show that your damages were a direct result of the actions or inactions taken by your doctor. If for example you get corrective knee surgery and you do not follow your doctor’s post-operative instructions and your wound gets infected, you cannot hold the doctor liable for medical malpractice.

However, establishing a direct cause may not be as simple as it sounds. For example, a surgeon may have left behind a sponge during a surgical procedure. But, any complications that arise afterward, might not be attributed to the sponge but to your overall health. This means that even if the sponge wasn’t left behind, complications would still have occurred post-surgery due to the status of your health.

Is a New Bedford medical malpractice lawyer worth the cost?

The fees for hiring a medical malpractice lawyer in New Bedford are usually much smaller than the medical expenses that you will incur. Additionally, your lawyer can help you save money by negotiating on your behalf with the hospital’s insurance company. If your case goes to trial you have a higher chance of recovering compensation if you have legal representation. At Kevin P Landry law offices, we offer a free initial consultation and charge a contingency fee. This means we get paid when we secure compensation for you. Contact us today at 508-999-0800 to schedule your free consultation.