Orangeburg Medical Malpractice Lawyer
When you visit a health care provider for a routine exam or to seek a diagnosis or treatment, you should be able to anticipate that you will not suffer harm because of the health care provider’s negligence. Yet medical negligence occurs with frequency, and Johns Hopkins Medicine reports that medical mistakes are the third-leading cause of death in the United States. If you have been harmed because of a health care provider’s negligence, you should learn more about filing a medical malpractice claim in South Carolina. Contact our experienced Orangeburg medical malpractice lawyer for more information.
Common Types of Medical Malpractice Claims in Orangeburg
Medical malpractice claims can involve many different forms of negligence. Some common types of medical malpractice include but are not limited to:
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Medication errors, which can include prescribing the incorrect medication or incorrect dosage, prescribing a medication that has a harmful interaction with a patient’s existing medication, or filling the wrong medication or the wrong dosage;
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Diagnostic errors, which involve medical errors that result in delayed diagnoses and misdiagnoses, and these mistakes can result from misunderstanding a patient’s symptoms, lab tests being incorrectly processed, or misreading a patient test or scan;
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Anesthesia errors, which can involve giving a patient the incorrect dosage of an anesthetic;
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Surgical mistakes, which may involve, for example, operating on the wrong patient or the wrong body part, or leaving a foreign object inside a patient following a surgical procedure;
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Hospital mistakes, which can result in hospital-acquired infections, bed sores, or other injuries; or
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Birth injuries, which can involve injuries to a mother during pregnancy or labor and delivery, or to a newborn during labor and delivery.
Liability for Medical Malpractice Injuries in Orangeburg
In order for a health care provider to be liable for medical malpractice, the injured patient must prove the four elements of a claim:
- Health care provider owed the patient a duty of care;
- Health care provider breached the duty of care by acting in a negligent manner, which usually means acting in a way that another provider in a similar region and field would not consider to be reasonable;
- Health care provider’s negligence caused the patient’s injuries; and
- Patient suffered damages.
Many different health care providers may be liable in a medical malpractice case, such as:
- Physician;
- Surgeon;
- Specialist provider;
- Pharmacist;
- Nurse;
- Nurse practitioner;
- Physician’s assistant;
- Hospital or other facility where the injury occurred;
- Laboratory that processed a test;
- Laboratory technician;
- Pharmacist; or
- Dentist.
How to File an Orangeburg Medical Malpractice Case
In order to file a medical malpractice claim in South Carolina, you will need to go through a series of steps that include a Notice of Intent to File Suit and filing your claim before the statute of limitations runs out. Most medical malpractice lawsuits will need to be filed within three years from the date of the malpractice, or within three years from the date that the patient reasonably should have discovered the harm.
Contact The Stanley Law Group Today
If you were harmed by a health care provider’s negligence, it is important to find out more about filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. There are various circumstances in which a health care provider may be liable for harm, and many different types of health care providers may be responsible. Contact an experienced Orangeburg medical malpractice lawyer to have your claim assessed and to move forward with a lawsuit.
