When you have received an injury or suffered physically due to an event that occurred in a hospital or doctor’s office, you may be wondering if you can sue the health care provider for malpractice. There are a few conditions that determine whether an event qualifies as malpractice. If your circumstance fits these conditions, you may be qualified for compensation.
There are three main conditions that a malpractice claim must meet to be valid. If your injury fits this criterion, consider contacting an attorney.
- Standard of Care. If your treatment did not meet certain standards that the law and the medical profession consider to be acceptable, it may violate the standard of care and qualify as negligence.
- Even if you didn’t consider the standard of care you received to be acceptable or you aren’t happy with the result, the medical professions’ actions must be considered negligent to constitute malpractice. You must be able to prove your injury would not have happened if there was no negligence on the part of your caregivers.
- Significance of Damages. To sue for malpractice, you must have sustained damages that justify a potentially lengthy and expensive court case, such as high medical bills, loss of income, disability, or extreme pain and suffering. Less significant damages may result in an award that is less than the cost of taking the case to court.
Common conditions that qualify as malpractice include:
- Failing to conduct proper testing and diagnose condition
- Ignoring the patient’s past health records
- Discharging the patient too soon and/or failing to provide adequate after care
- Surgical mistakes, unnecessary surgery, and mixed up dosage of medications
- Misdiagnosis, failing to diagnose, and misinterpreting lab results
The knowledgeable attorneys at Shlesinger & deVilleneuve want to fight for the compensation you are entitled to in any malpractice claim. If you have suffered injuries related to a medical procedure in Oregon, reach out to us today.