Doctors and other medical professionals are typically looked at as expert sages with unassailable knowledge and talent in fixing people who are broken. Most of us tend to see them as infallible, and trust them with our very lives without question. But is this really the way that the relationship should work?
Andrew Winston does not believe so. Just like other Fort Lauderdale professionals who provide important services, medical professionals need to be held to a certain standard, and sometimes that means taking them to task when a serious error has been made. We have successfully handled a number of medical malpractice cases for clients, winning them compensation that they needed and deserved to move forward and attempt to live normal lives after they were unduly harmed by a doctor’s preventable mistake, and we can do the same for you or someone you love.
Don’t think something like this could happen to you? Over the last decade or so, the curtain has been pulled back on the medical profession more and more, and what researchers are finding just keeps getting more disturbing. Case in point – did you know that medical mistakes are actually one of the leading causes of death in this country? In fact, a study from the Journal of Patient Safety came out with numbers in 2013 that would make preventable medical errors the third leading cause of death in the U.S., behind only heart disease and cancer.
If you or a loved one has suffered from a strange complication or other medical issue after receiving treatment, you owe it to yourself and others who could be harmed in the same way to see if the problem occurred due to a medical mistake and, if so, hold those responsible accountable.
When we file medical malpractice claims for clients at Andrew Winston, they fall under three broad categories: malicious conduct, gross negligence, and professional negligence. Of course, each of those categories is really a big umbrella that encompasses multiple case types.
Professional or simple negligence. These kinds of cases run the gamut. Perhaps a doctor was careless when prescribing you medicine and you ended up suffering an allergic reaction – rare cases like this have even ended in death. Or maybe your surgeon made a mistake during a procedure you had because they were presented with a complicated set of choices that were beyond their medical expertise. These are still errors that should not have happened, and someone needs to take responsibility and compensate you, but when compared to the other categories they are far more understandable.
Gross negligence. When gross negligence claims are filed, it means that the medical professional in question is being accused of making an error that shows a serious lapse in attention or judgment. Examples are leaving tools, like sponges or even scissors, inside of patients after surgery. These types of errors are incredibly serious because they can cause serious harm to people if not discovered and treated quickly. Cases involving forgotten sponges are actually surprisingly common because doctors and nurses need to react fast in surgery, and wet sponges often look like body tissue.
Malicious conduct. While it is rare for us to file one of these types of cases, they still occur all too often. Malicious conduct means that the medical professional in question acted in such a way that they either intended to harm a patient or caused harm through willful neglect. Cases of nursing home abuse tend to make up the bulk of this category.
Subcategories of medical malpractice that can show up in any one of the above categories depending on the specific situation include failure to diagnose, surgical errors, failure to treat in a timely manner, IV infiltration, pharmacy errors, anesthesia errors, birth-related errors, and wrongful death.
The types of injuries and illnesses that you can sustain from preventable medical errors are many and varied, relative to the specific error that you experienced and how long it went undiagnosed and untreated. Just a few of the things that might result from a medical mistake include:
There are also a number of specific medical problems that can occur in infants due to improper care by physicians. Some of the most common birth defects related to preventable errors include:
These kinds of conditions frequently occur when labor is complicated due to the baby’s size and position or when labor becomes prolonged. There are appropriate medical standards that doctors are required to apply to lessen the chances of a birth injury occurring, and if they neglect to do so, they may be guilty of medical malpractice.
With our years of experience litigating medical malpractice cases, Andrew Winston knows exactly what is needed to prove that your medical provider acted in a negligent manner.
These types of cases necessitate lawyers with an in-depth understanding of Florida liability laws, personal injury statutes, and the specific legal obligations, regulations, and standards that health care providers are all expected to comply with, as well as a law firm that can bring in trusted medical experts to evaluate your case and determine if it is worth pursuing. We understand all of this, as well as the specific elements that plaintiffs must prove in order to win a medical malpractice verdict. Your attorney must: