Medical Malpractice Lawyer Greenville, SC
When you visit the doctor, whether you’re feeling sick or just need a routine check-up, you expect that you’ll get an accurate diagnosis and the right medical treatment to make you better. But like everyone, doctors are human, and sometimes mistakes happen.
Unfortunately for patients, a doctor’s mistake can be costly, whether it’s a failure to accurately diagnose your condition correctly or a mistake made during surgery. If you’ve suffered through unnecessary medical procedures or didn’t receive proper medical treatment because of misdiagnosis, you may have been a victim of medical malpractice.
The consequences of medical malpractice and misdiagnosis can have life-changing consequences and, in some cases, even be fatal. If a medical provider has harmed you, a Greenville medical malpractice lawyer can help. Contact The Joel Bieber Firm today for a free consultation about your case.
Medical Misdiagnosis and Malpractice in Greenville, SC
A medical misdiagnosis can be serious for several reasons. First, if your doctor doesn’t realize that you have a certain condition, you could lose the benefits and potential full recovery that early intervention and treatment offer.
Secondly, if you’re diagnosed with the wrong condition, you may suffer through invasive treatments you don’t need. These treatments, at best, are ineffective and, at worst, can worsen your condition.
Both the treating physician and the medical center they’re treating you at may be liable for your injuries from medical misdiagnosis or malpractice. Misdiagnosis happens in several common ways, such as:
- The doctor didn’t order the right tests to rule out the causes of your symptoms
- Delay in or failure to take action on the test results
- Not understanding you when you’re explaining your symptoms
- Failure to consider an underlying medical condition
- Being given medication without having the side effects explained
- Complications with an implanted medical device
These are some of the most common types of medical misdiagnosis circumstances, but this list is by no means exhaustive. Your Greenville medical malpractice lawyer evaluates your medical records to determine how the misdiagnosis led to long-lasting effects, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
The stress and strain of not knowing what is wrong with you and the anxiety many people have about medical procedures can be further complicated if they are victims of malpractice.
Medical Misdiagnosis Can Be Considered Medical Malpractice
Medical misdiagnosis is included in the legal definition of medical malpractice. It occurs when a treating health care professional fails to diagnose your condition or order treatment that a similar treating practitioner would.
Misdiagnosis can include not ordering further tests to arrive at the right diagnosis or not asking you the right questions about your symptoms and comorbid health conditions that would lead them to arrive at the right diagnosis.
When medical misdiagnosis actively harms the patient, or if the doctor or healthcare professional breaches the standard duty of care required by all medical care providers, the misdiagnosis becomes malpractice.
Malpractice is grounds for a lawsuit to recover compensatory damages for the victim or, if the malpractice is fatal, the surviving family members.
Compensatory damages from a medical malpractice case include covering the medical costs of all the treatments you received, as well as procedures and care necessary to treat your actual illness and injury.
It also covers missed wages if you didn’t work while recovering from your injury, as well as the pain and suffering you experienced because of the misdiagnosis and invasive, unnecessary medical procedures.
Proving Medical Malpractice Transpired
Even if your misdiagnosis or medical mistake is pretty obvious – you had surgery on the wrong side of your body, for example – a judge will still require your Greenville medical malpractice lawyer to prove that malpractice occurred.
This process can be challenging since hospitals and doctors don’t like admitting that they made a mistake or misdiagnosed a patient. An experienced attorney knows how to find the information needed to build a strong case on your behalf.
Medical malpractice cases require four prongs of proof. First, the doctor owes you a duty of care. As soon as a medical professional begins treating you, they assume a specific duty of care, performing the duties that a properly trained medical professional would reasonably provide under similar circumstances.
The second step to proving malpractice is establishing that the treating physician breached this duty of care or didn’t provide the full standard of care that another physician would have provided in a similar situation.
Your Greenville medical malpractice lawyer will usually call expert witnesses who will testify how they would have treated you in the same conditions you were in. Their testimony establishes what a reasonable doctor would have done.
Once malpractice is established, your lawyer connects the misdiagnosis to causing your injury or worsening your medical condition. This includes proving that you would not have sustained the injury or your condition would not have progressed if you had received proper treatment as per established professional standards of care.
Finally, your Greenville medical malpractice lawyer proves the damage from the misdiagnosis resulted in serious damage to your person and impacted you financially.
The damage you suffer can be the progression of a disease that otherwise would not have occurred, physical and mental pain and suffering, permanent or temporary disability or loss of mobility, and unreasonable medical costs.
In some cases, the medical center may be liable, such as failing to do due diligence when hiring a doctor or allowing a doctor with multiple patient complaints to continue practicing. In those cases, your lawyer may seek punitive damages against the hospital and monetary damages incurred from the misdiagnosis.
Working with a Greenville Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Have you suffered from medical misdiagnosis or been a victim of medical malpractice? We can help. The Joel Bieber Firm specializes in representing victims who medical errors and oversight have harmed. Contact us today for a consultation about your case and how to recover the damages you’re entitled to.
WHAT IS MY CASE WORTH?
Contact an experienced Injury Claims Lawyer at The Joel Bieber Firm today for your free initial consultation.