Suppose you or a loved one was harmed by a medical professional or facility’s negligence in surgery. In that case, you may have a surgical medical malpractice claim, which could provide you with compensation that covers your attendant losses. Proving the medical provider’s fault involves legal intricacies that are best left in the capable hands of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer in Harrisburg, PA.
Medical Malpractice Defined
While medical malpractice does address medical errors, it goes beyond mere mistakes. For surgical error to be considered medical malpractice, the surgeon, another medical professional attending your surgery, or the medical facility itself must have failed you regarding the standard of care you were owed. This means they must have failed to perform at the same level their medical peers would have under similar circumstances, and the consequences for you can be immense.
Proving the Elements of Your Surgical Medical Malpractice Claim
There are four primary elements that you must prove to bring a successful surgical medical malpractice claim.
Proving Duty of Care
First, you must demonstrate that the medical professional or facility owed you a duty of care, which means they were responsible for your well-being. This is generally a straightforward matter in surgical medical malpractice claims because the very fact that you were undergoing surgery establishes the necessary doctor/patient relationship.
Proving Negligence
In medical malpractice claims, failure to uphold the duty of care owed to patients amounts to negligence. To prove negligence on the part of the surgeon, someone on their team, or the medical facility, you’ll need to establish one of these: they failed to take the actions that other medical professionals in their position would have, or they took some action that those other medical professionals wouldn’t have given the situation at hand.
Common forms of negligence in surgical medical malpractice claims include the following:
- Anesthesia errors
- Negligent postoperative care
- Failure to adequately inform the patient of the risks involved
Additionally, there are events that are so dangerous that they should never happen but sometimes do. Examples include performing the wrong surgery, performing surgery on the wrong person or body part, and leaving a foreign object in the patient.
To prove negligence in your case, you’ll need compelling evidence, which tends to include the testimony of medical professionals in the same field as the at-fault party, the testimony of eyewitnesses – such as those who attended your surgeon in the operating room – your medical records, and the hospital’s surgical records.
Proving Direct Cause
Finally, the surgical error in question must have been the direct cause of the injuries you suffered, and the losses you incurred must be covered by the law, which includes medical expenses, lost income, and physical and emotional pain and suffering. Making this connection can be legally challenging, but your accomplished surgical medical malpractice attorney will be well prepared to advocate for the compensation you’re entitled to skillfully.
Make the Call to an Experienced Harrisburg Surgical Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
The knowledgeable surgical medical malpractice lawyers at Marzella & Associates in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, welcome the opportunity to prove negligence in your medical malpractice claim. They will leave no stone unturned in their dedicated effort to do so. Learn more by contacting us online or calling 717-876-8681 and scheduling a free consultation today.