5 Situations to Sue for Medical Malpractice in Maryland

Jul 29, 2024

Medical malpractice can be tricky to prove, so if you’re thinking you might be a victim, be sure to contact a personal injury attorney in Rockville, MD as soon as possible for a case review.

5 Situations to Reach Out to a Personal Injury Attorney in Rockville, MD

1. Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis

When a healthcare provider fails to diagnose a condition correctly or takes too long to diagnose it, it means you may miss the opportunity for timely treatment, and the consequences can be serious.

To prove this, your lawyer will need to show that a competent doctor would have correctly diagnosed the condition in a similar situation.

2. Surgical Errors

Surgical errors can include operating on the wrong body part, leaving surgical instruments inside the patient, or causing unintended damage to organs. In some cases, it’s the post-operative care that’s inadequate.

To prove this, you and your lawyer will have to show that your healthcare providers’ actions were not in accordance with the accepted standard of care and that this was directly the cause of your damages. In the case of a post-op infection, for instance, it can be hard to prove that negligence caused the infection and that it wasn’t just bad luck.

You’ll need to be able to show hard evidence that specific action or inaction on the part of your caregivers was responsible for the infection and that other professionals in their situation would not have acted in the same way.

3. Medication Mistakes

Medication errors can occur at various stages. The doctor may make an error in prescribing, admin staff may make errors in transmitting a prescription, or there can be errors at a pharmacy or by a nurse distributing medications in a hospital setting. These mistakes can result in serious side effects, unnecessarily prolonged illness, or even death.

To pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit for this, you’ll have to show the error was the result of negligence and that it harmed you. If you were prescribed the wrong medication, but it didn’t actually do you any harm, you would not have a case.

4. Birth Injuries

Birth injuries can happen to the mother or child or both, and while sometimes these injuries just happen and no one is to blame, other times they come from negligent prenatal care, a failure to address complications during labor, or the improper use of delivery instruments.

To prove malpractice here, you’ll need to demonstrate that the healthcare provider’s actions fell below the expected standard of care and that these actions actually caused the injury.

5. Lack of Informed Consent

Informed consent is a fundamental patient right, and all healthcare providers must explain the risks, benefits, and alternatives of any proposed treatment or procedure they recommend and get your consent before administering a treatment. If a provider fails to obtain the proper informed consent, and you suffer harm as a result, you may have a claim.

To make a claim here, you would need to show that you were not properly told about all the possible risks and that, if you had been, it’s likely you would have refused the treatment.

To learn more about your case, contact us now at the McKenzie & Tehrani Law Firm in Rockville, MD and Greenbelt, MD.