Being the victim of medical malpractice can be a traumatic and horrific experience. Much of the damage inflicted by negligent medical professionals has serious and permanent consequences. Our society spends a lot of money on medical treatment and we trust medical workers to do their jobs successfully and help us get better. We pay top dollar for medical care, so if you later learn that a treatment, surgery, diagnosis, etc., went wrong or did more harm than good, it is frustrating and unfair. In some cases, the damage can be repaired, but in others, it is impossible to reverse or undo.
That is why the offices of Ben Crump Law, PLLC are here for you. We know firsthand about the injustices people experience at the hands of those our society trusts blindly. We fight hard for justice on their behalf and are here to do the same for you. We do not back down from a fight. We know what our clients deserve, and we do not settle. A St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer might be able to provide you some solace and guidance with regards to your case. Our team at Ben Crump Law, PLLC offers free consultations. We care about you and do not want you to suffer any more than you already have. We do not charge you anything until we negotiate a fair settlement or win a verdict in your favor, so give us a call today at (800) 641-8998 to learn more.
Medical Malpractice
The fabled Hippocratic Oath and its concept, “do no harm”, is probably the most pervasive philosophy in modern medical ethics. Doctors are taught that, no matter what, their ultimate effect should cause no harm. One would have to believe that any doctor who does commit medical malpractice does not do so of malintent. However, it is ultimately a moot point, because in medical malpractice lawsuits a doctor’s intent is not a factor. When harm is done, it is done. Whether the doctor did or did not mean to cause harm, they did; and the law states they must make restitution for it.
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Liability
In medical malpractice, a professional is liable to a patient when their performance falls below the acceptable standard of care and it causes patient harm and injury. Any medical professional, nurse, doctor, surgeon, psychologist, etc., owes a patient a certain duty of care. We expect our doctors to take care of us and we trust different professionals to help us in different ways. They reciprocate our trust by accepting their duty to provide us quality care and doing so.
The level and type of care owed depends on the situation and setting. For example, a woman going into labor will likely rely on an obstetrician to provide a high level of care when delivering her baby. If that obstetrician, that the mother trusts to safely and successfully deliver her healthy baby, fails to do so, then the doctor breaches their duty to sufficiently care for the mom and baby. The breach in duty and the harm that results, make the obstetrician liable for their failure to uphold their duty to deliver a healthy baby.
A St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer can investigate your case, determine the liable party or parties, and file a medical malpractice claim to pursue fair compensation.
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Common Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
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Common General Surgical Malpractice:
Doctors make surgical mistakes. This can happen out of carelessness, like not sewing a wound shut properly, or leaving a tool inside a patient; or it can be a completely unintentional professional mistake, like overlooking a small tumor on a brain scan. Whether it was a sincere mistake or done in careless disregard of a patient, both of these scenarios are negligent and examples of medical malpractice.
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Failure to Obtain Consent
Surgeons might also be sued for medical malpractice for failing to follow through on a surgery in the manner described to the patient before that surgery. This can happen in any surgery, but one example is in breast augmentation plastic surgeries when a doctor takes the liberty of altering the size or method of implant used on the patient. Doing something during surgery, not previously approved by the patient, is malpractice. A surgeon must be explicitly given permission to do any specific surgery or procedure on a patient. They are not free to operate indiscriminately.
Surgical, Incorrect Diagnosis, and Lack of Consent
Failure-to-obtain-consent-malpractice can also happen when surgeons think they are doing something to help their patients. Such as, when a surgeon begins a surgery intent on solving one problem, for example, appendicitis, and realizes during the surgery that the appendix is, in fact, not the problem. The problem is instead cysts that are about to rupture. If the surgeon changes course during the surgery, fixing the actual problem by removing the nearly ruptured cysts, without informing the patient ahead of time, he has committed medical malpractice. Even if the surgery ends up helping the patient, the doctor has still committed medical malpractice for performing an unapproved surgery on a patient. (Kennedy v. Parrott, 90 SE 2d 754 – NC: Supreme Court 1956)
Childbirth and Labor Malpractice
This type of malpractice is tragically very common and results in extremely severe infant injuries. If an obstetrician fails to perform their duty to successfully deliver a baby, in a manner that preserves the health of the mother and baby, it could be the result of negligence. If a doctor makes the professional decision to allow a baby more time in the birth canal to perhaps trigger contractions and increase the chance of natural birth, despite the fact that the baby is unknowingly being strangled by the umbilical cord at that time, the doctor would be liable for any harm that baby incurs, as a result of that decision.
Though these are only a few potential medical malpractice scenarios, the point is that this kind of negligence reaches far and wide. If you believe you might have been hurt in some way by a medical professional, or believe you suffered unnecessarily at their hands, you should know that you do not have to just suffer in silence. You have legal rights that give you the power and freedom to fight for justice. Perhaps you would benefit from consulting a St. Louis medical malpractice lawyer. We want to make right that great sense of betrayal you have experienced at the hands of a medical professional. Call Ben Crump Law, PLLC today at (800) 641-8998 for a free consultation and to learn more about how we can help you seek justice.
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