Medical Malpractice Attorney in Covington

As a medical malpractice attorney in Covington can tell you, you may be eligible to pursue a lawsuit with the help of a lawyer to recover the compensation you may so desperately need to move on with your life. If you find yourself coping with these situations, bear in mind that you are not alone in handling these. The support of an experienced and qualified lawyer can really help guide you through the process of recovering compensation and understanding each of your legal rights. With so many different things to think through, the support of a medical malpractice lawyer could make a big difference in your ability to move on and keep your primary focus on your medical treatments. 

There are many different kinds of medical malpractice actions and more than one may apply to your specific case. Make sure that you sit down with any evidence with a lawyer as soon as you can as it can take time as well as a thorough review by an outside physician to determine if malpractice has happened. The primary basis of any malpractice claim is an argument that another physician or medical professional in the same situation would have handled that situation differently. This is the grounds for negligence in a medical malpractice case, and you must also be able to show that a doctor-patient relationship existed and that the harm done to you caused you serious injuries. It can be very complicated to go through this process on your own, but thankfully, retaining an experienced and qualified medical malpractice attorney in Covington can clear the way.

When you visit with your doctor and report strange symptoms or are undergoing regular screenings, you anticipate that your doctor will do everything possible to identify problems. If a diagnosis of a medical condition is delayed or missed, this prevents you from getting the necessary treatment. Your condition can get worse or can even become irreversible depending on the condition. Far too many diagnostic errors happen. In fact, some research shows that nearly 30% of cancer cases in the United States are misdiagnosed, meaning that patients are not able to get the treatment they need in a timely fashion. Diagnostic errors can become medical malpractice when:

• You have been diagnosed with a condition that you do not have.
• You are diagnosed after your real condition has reached an incurable stage.
• You were not diagnosed with a medical condition despite having clear symptoms and signs consistent with that condition.

Cancer is not the only type of medical condition that is often misdiagnosed. In fact, heart attacks and strokes are also commonly misdiagnosed. Lab techs, nurses, and doctors can all be held responsible by a medical malpractice attorney in Covington if you can show that these errors compromised your overall health.

One of the most common types of medical malpractice issues that can influence patients is medication error. You expect that your doctor is giving you medication and that you are taking medication that will make you better, not worse. A doctor, however, can make mistakes with the prescription or giving of medicine and one study found that over 1.5 million people across the country suffer each year due to medication errors. A doctor can give you a medicine that interacts with another drug you're taking or one that triggers an allergic reaction within you. If you're given the wrong dosage of medication or type of medication or are not given your medicine on the right schedule, this can lead to serious problems. Other kinds of medication errors that can form a malpractice suit include prescribing medication for off label uses, failing to monitor patients who have received medication, mislabeling, and miscommunication.

Pregnancy calls upon doctors to be familiar with many different kinds of issues that can affect the life of the fetus and the health of the mother. Unfortunately, mistakes made in labor and delivery can lead to permanent disabilities or even death. If families are told there are no risks based on their genetic test results, for example, and the child is born with that condition, a wrongful birth or genetic testing malpractice lawsuit can be followed. Furthermore, a pregnant woman expects that her doctor will closely monitor her pregnancy, prescribe safe medications, and order appropriate tests. Failing to do so could lead to the failure to identify gestational diabetes, birth defects, ectopic pregnancies and more. Mistakes can also happen during the labor and delivery process by midwives, nurses, or doctors, which can create devastating birth injuries. These errors can cause children to suffer due to lack of oxygen which can lead to brain damage. All too often, pregnancy errors that lead to contacting a medical malpractice attorney in Covington have to do with failing to respond in a timely manner to complications and failing to monitor. Problems under this umbrella can include things, such as shoulder dystocia, fetal distress, excessive bleeding, uterine rupture, and umbilical cord entanglement. When a child is born, it is the responsibility of the hospital staff to closely monitor the child's condition. Proper action must also be taken if any problematic symptoms are present, such as heart problems, breathing difficulties, jaundice, or other medical related errors.

When anesthesiologists, nurses and doctors fail to appropriately monitor a patient's vital signs, level of consciousness or properly check equipment, anesthesia errors could lead to serious complications or even loss of life. If this situation has already impacted you, you may wish to speak with a medical malpractice attorney in Covington. General anesthesia should be used at safe levels and the patient should be continued to monitor. If any errors do occur, the patient may instead experience severe pain because they are alert during the procedure. This is commonly known as anesthesia awareness. Mistakes related to anesthesia can also happen with epidural or spinal anesthesia leading to complications such as nerve damage, spinal infections, allergic reactions, and seizures.

Undergoing surgery is a nerve wracking experience for anyone, but you have to place your trust in the doctors and other health care professionals at that time. Plenty of surgical errors can lead to lifelong complications. Some of the most common types of surgical errors that can harm patients include things, such as:

• Failing to appropriately administer regional or general anesthesia.
• Failing to appropriately prepare a patient for surgery by monitoring their diet, medication or vital signs.
• Failing to monitor a patient after a surgery and responding in any timely manner to complications.
• Perforating or puncturing an organ with the wrong surgical tool.
• Conducting the wrong surgery on the wrong person.

Many medical mistakes associated with surgery errors are so harmful and shocking to patients that they may be referred to as never events, such as performing surgery on the wrong patient or the wrong side of the patient's body. Leaving any surgical instruments inside a body should also never occur.

Another type of medical malpractice that might prompt you to contact a medical malpractice lawyer in Covington is known as hospital-acquired infections or HAI. These infections can be caused by things such as failing to disinfect and clean sinks, wash hands, sterilize surgical instruments, handle disposal precautions appropriately, or use double gloving. If you or someone you know has already been seriously injured as a result of a medical malpractice event, you need to consult with an experienced and qualified attorney immediately.

If your loved one has lived through a very difficult situation with medical malpractice and you need further guidance on protecting those legal rights, let us investigate the situation and tell you more about what's involved in opening a claim if you choose to do so. 

To get started with your medical malpractice claim, contact Morgan & Morgan for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.