As a patient, you put your trust in the medical professionals attending to you and your illness. You place your faith in them, believing that they know what they’re doing and that they won’t harm you in any way. However, there are times when you can be put in danger by the very people you trusted.
If you suffered or is still suffering from a personal injury, then you may file for a claim. To do this, you might want the assistance of a Chicago personal injury attorney to guide and help you figure things out. They’re particularly helpful in finding the grounds for your claim.
Doctor-Patient Relationship
This is one of the basic grounds for a personal injury claim. There should be an existing record that you are a patient of that doctor. You can’t file for a personal injury claim if, for example, you only misheard the doctor talking about a procedure or medical advice. The advice must be given directly to you as their patient.
Doctor’s Negligence
Evidence of negligence on the part of the doctor is a good ground for a personal injury claim. However, being unhappy with the result of the treatment is not. The evidence that you got harmed because of the doctor you’re suing must be apparent.
Doctors are required to give the best possible care, but that care should be reasonably skillful and careful. Most personal injury claims have this as a basis of the filing. Most states require a medical expert to discuss what the medical standard of care is. The medical expert is also asked to explain how the defendant wasn’t able to adhere to that standard.
There are instances when patients who come to their doctors are already sick or injured. These cases are hard to prove if the doctor has done something negligent. A medical expert will have to be interviewed thoroughly for this and testify in court.
Specific Damages
As a patient, you can sue for medical malpractice if you were harmed by the procedure the doctor did to you. On the other hand, there’s no basis for such claims if you didn’t experience harm even if the doctor treated you below medical standards. You should be experiencing mental problems, physical pain, extra medical bills, and losing work or losing the capacity to work to file a claim for personal injury.
What are the Common Types of a Medical Malpractice?
You can sue a doctor if they failed to give the correct diagnosis regarding your illness. The case is strong if it’s proven that things could have a better outcome than what was achieved. On the other hand, your doctor should treat you as any competent doctor would. Otherwise, you can file for medical malpractice if they are unable to do so.
Aside from that, a doctor should be able to tell you about the risks of the procedure or treatment you’ll be undergoing. This is called the duty of informed consent. The doctor must inform you about the risks, if any. Failure to do so is grounds for medical malpractice.
Doctors are only human. They can also go wrong with their treatment plans and procedures. However, failure to adhere to the medical standards is a huge ground for a personal injury claim. You should talk to a personal injury lawyer to know about your options and if you have grounds to file a case.
