Medical Malpractice for Failure to Treat or Diagnose Coronavirus

Medical malpractice allows patients who have been given negligent care to seek compensation for their injuries. In situations where a medical mistake occurs due to negligence, patients can recover compensation for lost wages and other damages.

In Hollywood and other Florida communities, medical malpractice is often used in situations of misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment. Where a doctor should have caught the signs of an illness but failed to diagnose correctly, patients have a claim. In cases where a physician failed to offer the correct treatment another doctor in the same position would have suggested, injured patients may have a claim.

It is possible that in Hollywood, Miami, and other Florida communities, patients may find their care delayed when they present with coronavirus symptoms. Since the system is stretched, doctors may not correctly diagnose patients or may fail to give reasonable treatment. In fact, mistakes and negligence are more likely during the pandemic.

Doctors are working long hours and not much is known about the novel coronavirus. Patients may be overlooked and in some cases retired doctors or even medical students are being asked to help out. A shortage of personal protective equipment can mean medical staff may be exposing patients to the virus by not changing equipment in between patients.

While traditionally some of these conditions may have paved the way for coronavirus medical malpractice claims in Hollywood, Miami, and other communities, it is unknown what options injured patients may have. Since the situation with COVID-19 is so unusual, the tort system in the United States or the system in Florida may eventually respond to the situation by offering healthcare workers, even negligent ones, partial of full immunity to claims. They may also place caps on medical malpractice cases.

In addition, the closure of courts in Broward and Miami-Dade counties as well as other counties means no hearings can be held. Social distancing measures also mean some legal processes are delayed, so filing claims can be more challenging.

At this stage, it is too soon to tell what remedies may be available for patients who were misdiagnosed, given the wrong treatment, given the wrong medication, or who were injured by what would typically be considered negligence. For now, this situation is still evolving rapidly.

If you have been misdiagnosed when presenting COVID-19 symptoms or if you have a medical malpractice claim during the coronavirus pandemic, your best option is to keep careful records and documentation of everything. Keep hospital records, a journal of your medical experiences and appointments, and write down as many details as you can.

You will also want to contact a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. An attorney will be up-to-date about the legal climate surrounding COVID-18 and can help you with filing a claim, if that proves possible. If you are in the Southern Florida area, you can always contact Flaxman Law Group at 1-866-352-9626 (1-866-FLAXMAN) for a free accident consultation with a Hollywood medical malpractice attorney.