When a medical practitioner misdiagnosis a condition or makes an error in treatment there are a number of concerns, first being the well being of the patient and what impact does the error have on his or her condition. It is logical that the patient will contact medical malpractice lawyers in Houston to determine if doctor’s mistake can be considered malpractice; the answer to this is far from black and white.
What actually is medical malpractice?
There is a great deal more to medical malpractice than an error on the part of a doctor, another health care practitioner or medical facility. There are a number of different issues that must be considered before a medical malpractice suit can prosper in court.
* There must be evidence that there was a doctor-patient relationship
* There must be evidence that the standard of care fell below that which can reasonably be expected
* There must be evidence that it was medical negligence on the part of a care provider caused the harm, and
* There must be quantifiable harm to the patient as a direct result of a negligent act
It is not difficult for medical malpractice lawyers in Houston to prove the existence of a doctor-patient relationship or harm; however negligence and establishing the standard of care can be more difficult.
The standard of care:
Basically, the standard of care is the exercise of skill and attention that could be expected from any other medical professional with the same training, in the same geographical area. The question that must be answered is “what are the accepted practices that should have been followed but were not.”
Negligence:
The lawyers for the plaintiff now have to determine how the standard of care was not met. It is not important that the patient is unhappy with the results of the treatment, what is important is that the doctor was negligent and that this act of negligence resulted in harm.
Medical malpractice law is extremely complex and it behooves anyone that believes they suffered as a result of malpractice consult with a skilled attorney.
If you believe you suffered harm as a result of malpractice on the part of your doctor or the hospital you are well advised to seek the assistance of medical malpractice lawyers in Houston. You are invited to contact the Kassab Law Firm. Follow us on out twitter page.
