Going to the doctor can be a fairly routine process. When you’re injured or sick, you seek professional medical attention so you can get treatment and feel better. However, when medical providers act negligently, their mistakes can severely affect your health and cause more health problems than when you first sought treatment. Our Parkersburg medical malpractice lawyers are here to defend your rights to fair compensation for wrongful injury.
DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC provides legal assistance to West Virginia citizens who have been harmed because of another party’s negligence. We believe in holding negligent parties accountable for their actions and getting you the justice you deserve. Let’s look into how medical malpractice can occur.
Why Does Medical Malpractice Happen?
After learning you’ve suffered because of medical negligence, you may be wondering why it happened. There are a few issues that can lead to medical errors in Parkersburg.
Staff exhaustion and fatigue can lead to doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals making mistakes. They may be responsible for many patients. If they’ve been working long hours and are fatigued, they may miss an important detail that results in an injury to a patient.
Inexperience is another issue that can arise in medical facilities. If a medical professional doesn’t have the training or experience to properly treat a patient, they could make a mistake that harms the patient. This could happen in the operating room or the emergency room—both areas where attention to detail and acting quickly and accurately are paramount to the patient’s health.
Hospital errors can include mistakes on patient records. If something is wrong with their information, they may be incorrectly scheduled for a procedure or given medication that they can’t have.
Medical facilities are also supposed to be clean and have measures to prevent the spread of infection. Patients in a hospital may have a compromised immune system and contagious diseases like the flu can put their lives in danger.
Our lawyers will look into why you were hurt and who was responsible. Then, we’ll assess the injuries you sustained and how the medical error affected your health.
What Are Some Types of Medical Malpractice?
Unfortunately, there are many ways medical professionals can act negligently. One of the following errors may have happened to you or a loved one:
- Misdiagnosis. When you discuss your symptoms with your doctor, they’re supposed to take in that information, ask questions, and run tests to find out what’s ailing you. Doctors that miss obvious symptoms could give a patient the wrong diagnosis or send them home without treatment. Sometimes, this can be deadly. If someone has symptoms evident of a heart attack or stroke in an emergency room, this should be recognized and treated immediately. Medical professionals that miss these signs could delay treatment and harm the patient.
- Medication Error. Administering the wrong medication or the wrong dosage could result in a patient having an allergic reaction or suffering the consequences of an overdose. While this could happen because of hospital negligence, pharmacists can also make this mistake.
- Surgical Error. Patients undergoing surgery may need anesthesia. If the anesthesiologist gives them too much, they could have trouble waking up. Too little anesthesia risks the patient waking up during surgery, which can be a painful and traumatic event. Hospitals without safety procedures and protocols in place to protect patients may result in patients receiving the wrong surgery, surgery on the wrong side of the body, or having surgical tools left inside them. These injuries typically need surgery to correct. Sometimes these mistakes can have permanent consequences.
- Birth Injury. Doctors and nurses can make errors while treating the mother when she’s pregnant, during the delivery process, and while providing care after the baby is born. If there are mistakes during this process, both the mother and the baby can get hurt. Severe injuries can occur during the birthing process. Babies may experience a lack of oxygen, which can cause brain damage, and doctors may incorrectly use tools and harm the baby.
- Lack of Informed Consent. When a patient has the option of undergoing surgery, their doctor is supposed to explain what the surgery is, how it could help them, and the potential risks of the procedure. Then, the patient can decide what they want to do. If patients are rushed or pressured into surgery, they may suffer from the side effects the doctor was supposed to tell them about.
We’ve handled medical malpractice cases in the past. If you don’t see the type of medical negligence you experienced, you should still get in touch with our lawyers. We understand that each case is unique and will be treated as such. If you suffered medical negligence and have grounds for a claim, our firm is here for you.
How DiPiero Simmons McGinley & Bastress, PLLC Can Help
With our lawyers at your side, we’ll carefully look into your case and identify how you were injured and what the injuries have cost you. When assessing your economic and noneconomic damages, we’ll be sure to present the full picture of how the negligence has severely affected your life. Your economic damages will include the financial costs of your injuries, like medical expenses and lost wages.
There’s another aspect of your damages called noneconomic damages. This includes more of the emotional aspect of your losses. For example, you may have experienced significant pain and suffering from your injuries. You may not be able to do certain activities because of your injuries, which is causing your loss of enjoying your life. In West Virginia, it’s important to know there are certain limits on this liability. According to West Virginia Code §55-7B-8, a professional liability action cannot be more than $250,000.
When we represent you, our lawyers will always keep your best interests in mind. We’re here to maximize your compensation and hold the negligent medical provider accountable for their actions. While medical malpractice cases are complex and may seem like a lot to add to your responsibilities, this is the way to secure your financial future. Our medical malpractice attorneys in Parkersburg will fight for you.
To get started on your case, give us a call today. We’ll set up an obligation-free consultation to go over what happened to you and the options you have to move forward.
