Becoming injured at a hospital can happen. When it does, you need to understand what it means to file a medical malpractice claim and what the medical standard of care is. Just because you are injured or made ill at a hospital does not necessarily mean that someone was acting negligently when you became injured or ill. A good medical malpractice attorney understands that medical malpractice cases can be complicated and that it is imperative that we determine what the medical standard of care is.
Medical Malpractice Versus an Accident
While any injury you get should be taken seriously, it is important to know the difference between an injury or illness that happened through a hospital’s negligence or something that was a simple mistake. Remember, not all mistakes will qualify as medical malpractice. When you are at a hospital receiving medical treatment, the treatment you are getting must fall below the standard of care to qualify as medical malpractice. So, how do you know if it is medical malpractice?
The Medical Standard of Care
When someone is treating you at a hospital, they must show you the same level of care that someone else who has had the same training, experience, and is in the same position would show you. Thus, even if you disagree with the way a doctor treated your injury or illness in a hospital, if another doctor under the same circumstances would have treated you the same way, then you may not have a medical malpractice case. However, if you were harmed and the treatment you received falls below that standard of care, you should speak with an experienced medical malpractice attorney as quickly as possible to begin working on your case.
Are there people who are held to a different standard of care?
Yes, there are people who are specialists in certain fields who are held to higher standards of care; thus you would want to see how another specialist in the field would act under similar circumstances. Some of these specialists are:
- Cardiologists
- Anesthesiologists
- Neurologists
- Allergists
If you have any other questions on the medical standard of care and the treatment you received at a hospital, please do not hesitate to call a lawyer, like a medical malpractice lawyer from Darrell Castle and Associates, PLLC, today.