What Patients Should Know About Medical Negligence and Their Rights

Understand what patients should know about medical negligence and the importance of holding facilities accountable for mistakes.

What Patients Should Know About Medical Negligence and Their Rights

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is home to more than 220,000 residents and a diverse population that includes African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and Whites. With such a large community, access to medical facilities, ranging from primary care and urgent care to specialty clinics, is essential.

Medical facilities and staff have a responsibility to keep their patients safe; it is literally a matter of life and death. While mistakes are common as humans, when harm is caused due to blatant negligence, the parties must be held responsible.

A victim of medical negligence could face serious, life-altering consequences. And going up against big medical facilities alone is not easy; they are likely to have strong legal representation that can make things very complicated. This is why many victims choose to find the best medical malpractice lawyer in Baton Rouge who can get them their rightful compensation.

What is Medical Negligence?

Medical negligence is when a healthcare provider, such as a doctor, nurse, therapist, etc., fails to meet the standard of care they are expected to give in a medical situation. The standard of care includes the level of skill, judgement, and attention that a reasonably competent medical provider would use in a similar situation.

It is crucial to understand that not everything can be marked as medical negligence. The medical industry has various risky treatments and procedures, so even if the professional were to do everything by the book, mishaps do occur.

Medical negligence usually covers preventable errors, such as misdiagnosis, wrong medications, surgical errors, failure to act when action was necessary, etc. These lapses can occur in hospitals, clinics, urgent care centers, nursing homes, or other healthcare settings and may result in serious harm to patients.

Common Examples of Medical Negligence

Let’s look at some common instances of medical negligence.

• Misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses: When the healthcare provider fails to assess the condition on time, it increases the chances of the condition worsening.
• Medication errors: When the provider gives the wrong medicines or different dosages.
• Surgical errors: When the provider makes mistakes like operating on the wrong site, leaving surgical instruments inside, or performing unnecessary procedures.
• Failure to properly monitor patients: When the provider fails to properly monitor a patient’s condition, leading to complications.
• Failure to obtain informed consent: When a patient is not properly informed about the risks, benefits, or alternatives of a procedure before it is performed.

How Medical Negligence Can Affect Patients

A healthcare provider’s negligence can lead to serious problems for the victims. It is not just the error in itself, but also the aftermath of the errors that is often extreme. Let’s look at the various aspects of life that medical negligence affects:

• Physical: Medical negligence often leads to serious physical issues, such as permanent injuries, disability, hormonal issues, pain, scarring, etc.
• Financial: Medical negligence victims are likely to face financial strains due to medical bills and lost wages. In severe cases, a victim might be rendered incapable of ever working again.
• Mental and emotional: Victims of medical negligence often have to deal with depression, anxiety, trauma, and even loss of trust in the healthcare system. This could also have a significant effect on their personal and professional life.

Understanding Your Rights as a Patient

Patients have the right to receive proper medical care, be it diagnosis, treatment options, knowing the risks, and the alternatives, so they can make informed decisions for themselves. If these rights have been violated due to the irresponsible acts of a medical professional, the patient has the right to seek compensation for their losses by filing a claim.

As the laws surrounding such cases may vary depending on the state, it is best to hire a lawyer to deal with the legal procedures. A lawyer can ensure that all your losses are considered and that you are compensated for both your economic and non-economic losses (current and future ones).

Key Takeaways

• Medical negligence involves preventable errors that fall below accepted standards of care.
• Not every poor medical outcome qualifies as negligence.
• Common forms include misdiagnosis, medication errors, and surgical mistakes.
• Medical negligence can cause physical, emotional, and financial harm.
• Patients have the right to informed care and fair compensation.