On September 17, 2013, Myrtle Beach, SC resident Danny Green was awarded $2.85 million as a result of injuries he sustained in local hospitals and medical centers. Green suffered severe injuries after a car accident in April, 2004, and was taken to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center. At that treatment center, doctors decided to give Green a CAT scan despite unstable vital signs; during the scan he entered cardiac arrest and as a result became paraplegic. The doctor’s failure to consider Green’s vital signs when determining that he needed a CAT scan without his car accident attorney present not only left Green paraplegic, but also exemplifies medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice lawyers deal with cases like Green’s regularly, where a patient alleges that a doctor’s treatment deviates from standard practices in the medical community and causes undue damage to the patient. Medical malpractice law is just one aspect of personal injury law, which attempts to assign fault when someone is seriously harmed. Like divorce law, people rarely commit blatantly illegal crimes in personal injury cases, but their actions have unfairly affected plaintiffs’ lives nonetheless. Personal injury law falls under tort law in the United States. Tort is the Norman word for “wrong” and tort law attempts to provide remedies for civil injustices.
Although Medical Malpractice law varies from state to state, most claims require that a plaintiff demonstrate that:
- A doctor patient relationship existed
- The doctor was negligent in their treatment of the patient
- he doctor’s negligence caused the injury suffered by the patient
- The injury led to specific damages including:
- Increased physical pain or hardship
- Increased psychological adversity
- Additional medical bills
- Lost wages or earning capacity
Whether you are a Palm Beach FL oncologist, or a Voluma doctor in Washington DC, you are entrusted with the care and safety of your patients, and it would behoove you to take every precaution imaginable to protect yourself from liability.