A medical malpractice suit is brought
against medical professionals such as doctors, nurses, lab assistants,
anesthetists, EMTs, and institutions like specialty clinics and hospitals. A
lawsuit can be filed by those who are injured during a medical procedure or
medical care.
The medical professional under whose
guidance the patient received treatment can be held liable if patient has
suffered trauma. Hospital neglect is also one of the common reasons why
patients or their estate end up seek legal recourse say Hartford, CT medical
malpractice lawyers such as those from the leading law firm of Melocowsky & Melocowsky (http://www.melolegal.com/).
However, filing a medical
negligence lawsuit is not easy. To begin with, patients or a
deceased patient’s estate are required to prove 4 elements that led to the
malpractice.
Breach of duty and standard of care
The patient will have to prove that it
was health care provider’s duty to look after the well-being of the patient. Doctors, nursing homes, as well as hospitals have a duty towards the patients
who are admitted under their care. The medical malpractice legal representative
will have to prove the doctors did not provide the level of care that another
equally qualified doctor would have provided the patient under similar
conditions. Moreover nursing homes and hospitals must ensure safety of patients
like any other reasonable institute would have provided.
According to Connecticut medical
malpractice attorneys such as Melocowsky &
Melocowsky who know how to win these types of cases because they have
done it so many times before, the plaintiff and his or her legal
representative will have to prove that there had been a breach of duty. There
are several types of breach of duty.
Misdiagnosis: If a doctor fails to read
the symptoms properly or does not deliver a proper diagnosis after a series of
tests then the patient has the right to sue the doctor for the loss of
invaluable time which might have resulted in aggravation of the condition.
Inefficient Care: A doctor can be
charged with negligence if he or she did not provide good care to
the patient. For instance, Hartford, CT medical malpractice lawyers say that if
a medical professional has left an instrument inside a patient or operated on
the wrong site, then a plaintiff will have a valid claim. Other examples
include failed to administer CPR when needed or provide good post-operative
care. In such cases, a doctor can be held liable to pay compensation through
his or her malpractice insurance.
Hospital neglect: When a nurse does not
drain wounds properly or does not treat bed sores, forgets to feed patients, or
does not administer the correct dosage of medication, the plaintiff has the
right to file a negligence lawsuit. Nursing home abuse is also another prime
example of negligence.
Administers wrong medication: If a
doctor prescribes a wrong dose of medication then they are liable to be sued
for negligence. A civil suit can also be filed if a nurse administers the wrong
medicine or if the doctor ignored the side effects of medicine.
Unclean Premises: When a hospital fails
to comply with sanitation regulations, patients can die from deadly virus
outbreaks such as pneumonia and MRSA, which is also a valid case for hospital
neglect.
Causation
Causation is also one of the major
aspects of a medical malpractice case. The plaintiff’s lawyer must have enough
evidence to prove that the negligence had caused the injury. Often defendants
bring medical experts to prove that no amount of effort on their part could
have saved the patient as they came to them in an already critical state.
This is why Hartford, Connecticut
medical malpractice lawyers and there is no one better in the business than Melocowsky & Melocowsky have their
own team of experts to discredit the defendant’s testimony and anyone who
supports them. It is also important to gather as much evidence to provide a
solid backbone to the case as soon as possible.
Damages
The last element of a malpractice or hospital
neglect suit is proving that the negligence resulted in damages. Damages for
which compensation can be claimed include:
- Medical expenses
- Loss of income due to absence from work due to short term or long term impairment
- Pain and suffering
- Punitive damages
- Wrongful death by a deceased patient’s estate
- Emotional Trauma

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