When you go to a medical facility or hospital, you trust the professionals there to provide quality care that alleviates your symptoms and improves your condition. However, when medical professionals make poor decisions regarding diagnosis or treatment, patients often suffer devastating injuries or illnesses.
If you suffer from a condition caused or worsened by the negligent actions of a medical professional, you have the right to seek compensation. However, proving liability in Houston medical malpractice claims is often challenging.
When you or a loved one has been injured because of a healthcare professional’s negligence, a skilled medical injury attorney could help you establish liability and get the compensation you are entitled to.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice is a legal term to describe any act or omission by a medical professional that deviates from the standard course of expected care and causes harm, injury, or death to a patient. Typically, medical malpractice involves an error in diagnosis, treatment, medication dosage, health management, or aftercare.
Examples of medical malpractice include the following.
- Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose
- Failure to order appropriate tests or imaging
- Surgical errors
- Failure to administer medically appropriate treatment for a condition
- Filling the wrong prescription medication or prescribing the wrong dosage
- Failure to monitor a patient for complications
When a Houston medical professional fails to diagnose a treatment in the way another physician in their position reasonably would have, it is considered medical malpractice and they can be held liable in a claim.
Requirements for Proving Medical Negligence
Establishing liability in medical malpractice claims in Houston requires showing the negligent actions of one or more medical professionals led to a specific injury or illness. The process requires proving a duty of care, determining how the duty was breached, and determining whether the breach of duty led to the injuries in question.
Duty of Care
Medical professionals have a duty of care to provide medical diagnoses and treatments with reasonable skill, care, and diligence expected of a competent professional in similar circumstances. Licensed medical professionals generally have a duty of care to protect and care for patients.
Breach of Duty
A breach of duty occurs when a medical professional takes actions outside of standard protocol or treatment procedures. Examples may include failure to order tests that would typically be ordered based on the patient’s symptoms, delayed treatment, or failure to treat a specific condition.
Causation
A breach of duty of care is not considered medical negligence or malpractice until a connection between the action or inaction can be related to injuries. For example, a delayed diagnosis or missed diagnosis led to a patient’s worsening condition or death.
Damages
The injured party must have suffered quantifiable damages due to their injuries. Damages may include physical, financial, or emotional damages for which the patient requires compensation.
Proving the four elements of medical negligence often requires testimony from medical experts showing how the plaintiff deviated from the appropriate standard of care.
Contact a Houston Medical Malpractice Attorney to Explore Your Options for Compensation in a Liability Claim
Medical professionals rarely admit to negligence and medical facilities often have teams of skilled lawyers to help them avoid liability. This is why proving liability in Houston medical malpractice claims generally requires assistance from an experienced personal injury attorney.
If you have suffered injuries or illness as a result of a medical professional’s negligent actions, the dedicated legal team at KGS Law Group could help you hold guilty parties responsible and get the compensation you are entitled to. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.