(305) 363-1735

What Is a Breach of the Standard of Care?

Medical Malpractice Lawyer

When you’re dealing with a medical malpractice case as the person making the claim, it is your job, and your attorney’s job, to prove that your doctor or health care provider breached the standard of care. Many health care professionals do their absolute best to care of their patients in the way they would treat themselves, using their best judgment and skills to heal you. However, mistakes and other situations occur where the doctor does not make the best decision or makes a grossly negligent mistake causing untold damages and potentially severe pain and suffering for the patient.

If this is the case you’ve experienced, and your lawyer can prove to a court that your doctor caused injury, emotional, physical, or financial damages to you, you might win a malpractice lawsuit.

What Is the Standard of Care?

While there is not a legal list of requirements necessary for a proper “standard of care” because every situation is unique, there is a known and reasonable level of service and care every health care provider is expected to uphold and provide to their patients. If you think your doctor was unquestionably negligent, and you can reasonably determine that another doctor with the same training would have provided a much higher standard of care to you, you may have a claim for breach of care on your hands.

Common Breaches

  • Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose: Both of these situations have the potential to cause you various physical and financial problems, especially if medication or surgery is involved.
  • Misinterpreting Lab Results: Misreading results from a lab test can cause unnecessary stress, or worse, missing early stages of a serious disease can cause many future consequences for you.
  • Mistakes Prescribing Drugs: Prescription drugs can be very strong and taking the wrong type or dosage can be dangerous to your health, or even fatal.
  • No Follow-Up: After a major operation, there can be various complications that arise that you may not even know are a serious problem. If the doctor fails to follow-up with you, this could pose major health risks.

Winning Your Case

A trial surrounding a breach in the standard of care can be a complex case, that may require the input from a number of other unbiased doctors and possibly industry experts to testify depending on the situation. To ensure your case is handled in the best way and to improve your odds of winning, contact a personal injury lawyer in Deer Park, TX familiar with medical malpractice. You deserve your damages to be fully covered and your case will help ensure someone else doesn’t go through the same thing you experienced.

 


 

Thanks to John K. Zaid & Associates for their insight into medical malpractice and standard of care.