When you visit a doctor, specialist, dentist, or any medical professional or facility, you expect to leave feeling better. You trust yourself and your personal information to hospitals, clinics, and other medical settings because you want your health to improve. Unfortunately, complications, wrong site surgery, drug dose errors, and other serious incidents can leave you more injured than when you first sought medical help.

If this happens to you, you may have a claim if the medical professional failed to provide a reasonable standard of care. The trouble is, it’s hard to tell whether you have a claim. It can even be difficult to get answers about what happened. That’s why you may want to consult with medical malpractice lawyers in Hollywood, FL if you’ve suffered a bad medical outcome. You can contact Flaxman Law Group for a free, no obligation case consultation to find out how we can investigate what happened and to find out whether you may have a claim.

What is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice happens when any healthcare professional, such as a doctor, nurse, or surgeon, fails to provide the standard of care that a patient is entitled to, leading to harm. Medical malpractice lawyers in Hollywood, FL work with patients who have suffered serious and even permanent injury because of medical malpractice.

Medical malpractice can take many forms. In some cases, a patient comes in with symptoms, and these symptoms aren’t correctly addressed by a medical professional. Another common problem happens in urgent care centers and emergency rooms, where a patient coming in with an injury from a construction site accident, for example, isn’t triaged correctly and is sent home without the right treatment.

One reason why many patients who are injured don’t seek compensation is because they think what happened to them was a mistake or wasn’t malpractice. Doctors and hospitals will usually not freely admit they were negligent. You may have an adverse reaction to medication and not be told that you were given the wrong drug or wrong dose, for example.

Consulting with medical malpractice lawyers in Hollywood, FL can help you find out whether what happened to you was a simple error or was in fact negligence. If you have a bad medical experience or outcome, talk to an experienced lawyer, who can explain whether you have a claim.

Examples of Medical Malpractice in Hollywood, Florida

Residents and visitors in Hollywood, Florida, have access to excellent local doctors, clinics, and hospitals. However, medical malpractice can occur in even the best healthcare settings. The most common forms of malpractice in the community include:

• Misdiagnosis. When doctors fail to diagnose a condition or delay a diagnosis, it can lead to serious consequences. For example, missing a head injury after a car accident can mean a patient doesn’t get life-saving care. In some instances, an incorrect diagnosis can even cause the disease to progress to the point of being untreatable.
• Surgical errors. This can include performing surgery on the wrong site, leaving surgical instruments inside the patient, or causing injury to surrounding tissues or organs. These errors can result in prolonged recovery times, additional surgeries, and, in some cases, permanent disability.
• Emergency room malpractice. In a busy ER, for example, if someone is brought in after a truck accident, they should receive prompt treatment and evaluation. If they don’t they can sue if the delayed diagnosis leads to harm.
• Medication errors. These involve the incorrect prescribing, dispensing, or administering of medications. For instance, a doctor may prescribe the wrong dosage, fail to consider a patient’s allergies or other medications, or give the wrong drug altogether. In some cases, pharmacists may also be held liable if they fail to dispense the correct medication or provide the wrong dose information to patients. Nursing home abuse can also involve overmedication, undermedication, or giving residents the wrong medication.
• Birth injuries. Errors during childbirth can include failing to recognize fetal distress or improperly using delivery instruments. These can lead to lifelong conditions for the baby, such as cerebral palsy, brachial plexus injuries, and Erb’s palsy. Children who suffer from birth injuries may require a lifetime of additional care. In addition, birth injuries can affect the mother, causing trauma and injury that can be fatal.
• Anesthesia. Anesthesia mistakes, such as administering too much or too little, can cause severe brain injury or death. Similarly, failing to monitor a patient’s vital signs or neglecting to respond to changes can lead to life-threatening injury.

When such malpractice occurs, patients could be entitled to compensation for their medical expenses, pain, suffering, lost income, and more. In Hollywood, patients who suspect medical malpractice should seek the help of medical malpractice lawyers in Hollywood, FL who can investigate the situation.