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Rhode Island Personal Injury Attorney / Blog / Personal Injury / Medical Malpractice Cases Are More Complex Than You Thought

Medical Malpractice Cases Are More Complex Than You Thought

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When a doctor makes a mistake, and causes you injury, you may have a claim for medical malpractice. While that statement is true, it is an oversimplification; medical malpractice is complex and there is more to the typical malpractice case than you may think.

Comparison to Other Doctors

The first thing to remember about malpractice, is that doctors are judged on what other doctors would have done, in the same situation as your doctor encountered with your care. Medicine isn’t perfect, and the law doesn’t expect doctors to be. If 9 out of 10 doctors would have made the same error as your doctor, your doctor may not be liable for malpractice—even if he or she did something wrong.

That also necessarily means that it is not malpractice just because you have a “bad result.” In other words, it is possible (albeit somewhat rare) to have something go wrong, and to have your doctor do something wrong, but there is no malpractice. The question is would another prudent, attentive, responsible doctor have made the same mistake, in the same situation.

Types of Malpractice

Malpractice doesn’t always have to be actively doing something wrong. Often, it is misdiagnosing an illness or injury, or ignoring signs and symptoms that lead to misdiagnosis. It can be simply neglecting to act quickly, or failing to recommend medicines, or procedures that could help patients. It can be taking a lackadaisical attitude towards symptoms that need immediate attention.

Who Can be Liable?

When it comes to malpractice, we automatically think of doctors, but anybody in the medical field can be liable for malpractice. That may include nurses, acupuncturists, radiologists, anesthesiologists—basically, anybody that is performing a medical function, that requires a degree of medical expertise to perform, can be liable for malpractice.

How Much Time Do You Have?

You have three years to file a medical malpractice claim. In some cases, that can be extended, such as in cases where you did not and could not have discovered the malpractice earlier, or with minors, who, if the malpractice happened while they were minors, have three years starting from the time they turn 18.

While three years sounds like a lot of time, it isn’t. Malpractice cases take a good amount of time to investigate; don’t wait until the last minute or you risk an attorney rejecting your case, just because the attorney doesn’t have the time needed to investigate the case before filing suit.

Getting Your Own Experts

In many injury cases, you can file your lawsuit in good faith, and your attorney, by him or herself can analyze whether there is negligence. But in medical malpractice, your attorney will need the help of an expert witness doctor. That doctor will be hired to review your case, situation and medical records, and to see if he or she thinks that your doctor did, in fact, do something wrong.

This means that your malpractice attorney may not be able to immediately tell you that you do or don’t have a good case. It can also add time onto the amount of time it takes to investigate a case.

If you were injured by the actions or inactions of a doctor, we can help. Contact our Rhode Island injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 today.

Source:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2628513/

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