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Medical Malpractice

Every year thousands of people are injured as a result of medical malpractice. Medical malpractice is negligence committed by a professional health care provider; a doctor, nurse, dentist, technician, hospital or hospital worker-whose performance of duties departs from a standard of practice of those with similar training and experience, resulting in harm to a patient or patients.

Most medical malpractice actions are filed against doctors who have failed to use reasonable care to treat you. The profession itself sets the standard for malpractice by its own custom and practice. Historically under the so-called "locality rule," a doctor was required only to possess and apply the knowledge and use the skill and care that is ordinarily used by reasonably well-qualified physicians in the locality, or similar localities, in which he or she practiced. But today the trend is toward abolishing such a rule in favor of a national standard of practice.

Medical malpractice suits arise under the following circumstances:

• Against a government agency that operates hospitals or provides specified medical care.
• Against a hospital for administering improper or overdoses of medication, negligent nursing care, inadequate sanitation, infection, or equipment failure.
• Against a physician, who in the general practice of medicine, deviate from the general accepted standards of practice in the community.
• Against a medical specialist who deviates from a nationally accepted standard of practice for specialists in that field of medicine.

Suits Against Physicians

In suits against the physicians, medical malpractice most commonly occurs under the following circumstances:

• The physician delayed diagnosis of a medical condition, or failed to diagnosis the patients medical condition altogether;
• The physician properly made the correct diagnosis, and then failed to properly treat the medical condition properly;
• The physician failed to perform a surgical procedure properly; or
• The physician fails to obtain the informed consent of the patient before performing a procedure or operation.

If you or a loved one have been serious injured as a result of medical malpractice, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation, by one of our qualified medical malpractice attorneys.