North Carolina Lawyers Blog

In the most basic terms, medical malpractice means a mistake made by a medical professional that results in injury or death. More specifically, medical professionals must perform their duties in accordance with the accepted standards of their profession. Failure to meet these standards is negligence. In addition to doctors, negligence on the part of the hospital, a nurse or any member of the medical staff can also be the cause of malpractice.

Medical malpractice takes many shapes. There are the egregious errors, such as amputating the wrong limb, that make headlines. This type of extreme negligence is rare, however. Most cases of medical malpractice involve less obvious, but still extremely dangerous, mistakes and oversights. For instance, a patient can be seriously injured if a doctor prescribes the wrong type of medication or administers the wrong dosage. Failure to diagnosis and improper diagnoses are two common acts of malpractice. Medical malpractice also includes mismanaged labor and injury to a child during birth.

Medical malpractice claims the lives of 100,000 patients each year in the United States. Hundreds of thousands more are injured. A person who has been hurt by medical malpractice, or the family of someone who died as a result of malpractice, can seek compensation for their losses by taking legal action.

In order to bring a successful medical malpractice claim, you must prove three things:

1. The medical professional failed to follow established standards of medical practice.

2. The negligence on the part of the medical professional resulted in the patient’s injuries.

3. The specific damages caused by the medical malpractice.

Compensation awarded in successful medical malpractice lawsuits may cover both economic and non-economic losses. Economic damages represent expenses such as medical bills and lost wages. Non-economic damages, on the other hand, represent the losses that cannot as easily be assigned a monetary value. Examples include pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life due to disability.

By their very nature, medical malpractice cases are complex. Expert testimony may be needed, and complicated medical issues must be explored. There is also the challenge of ensuring adequate compensation for injuries with side-effects that have not fully manifested themselves. Victims of medical malpractice often hire attorneys to act on their behalf and initiate the litigation. The attorney will handle tasks such as finding medical experts to testify and ensuring that the relevant medical reports and documents are submitted into evidence.