Medical doctors lead famously stressful lives. They work long hours, pay a lot for their education and are held to higher standards than most other professionals. Unfortunately, some of these elements of their lives are at cross purposes with others. Doctors are oftentimes worked long hours to keep the profitability of hospitals high, but this means diminishing results in patient care. Medical malpractice law claims oftentimes deal with the results of this unhappy situation. In some cases, it’s the fact that the patient is simply treated as disposable that causes the problem.

A common incarnation of this is being prescribed a medication that is entirely inappropriate for the condition or the patient. This may occur because the patient’s condition was not diagnosed properly. It may also occur because of medical negligence: being prescribed an antibiotic that you’re allergic to, for instance, when that allergy was clearly noted on your records. While an attorney can provide recourse in these situations, your best option is to know your own medical history. If you’re allergic to penicillin, for instance, and a doctor writes you a prescription for amoxicillin, that should be a huge red flag.

Medical malpractice is nothing to take lightly. It also happens far more often than people tend to think, and the consequences of it can be quite grim. Every year between 2000 and 2002, in fact, nearly 200,000 people lost their lives due to various types of medical malpractice. The manifestations of malpractice are not always obvious. It may not be a sponge left in your abdomen after a surgery or a botched procedure. In some cases, these smaller, more common forms of malpractice are just as deadly as the most egregious examples.

Some malpractice involves inattention to detail. The fact that these instances involve medicine, however, means that these small instances of not paying attention can be lethal. Consider, for instance, being given the wrong medication. In some cases, such as with antibiotic allergies, the results of being given the wrong meds may be fatal. In others they may be debilitating or cause severe trauma to the individual affected. No one deserves to suffer due to the incompetence of others and, where malpractice is concerned, that is usually exactly what's at issue: incompetence. Doctors, necessarily, are held to higher standards than most professionals. This is because what they do is literally a matter of life and death.

Medical negligence or malpractice cases are complicated. They require excellent technical skills in the field of medicine for malpractice law firms to be able to win a case for their clients. In order to win a case, the lawyer must prove four things in court:

• The doctor owed a duty towards the patient

• The doctor breached this duty

• The breach caused Injury to the patient

• There were damages due to the injury

The above are also considered the four elements of medical malpractice.

Four Elements of Medical Malpractice

• Duty owed: When a doctor or hospital treats a patient, a legal duty is created. This duty starts as soon as the doctor begins to provide any service to the patient, which includes medical counseling. If the claimant fails to show that there was an active doctor-patient bond during the time of the injury, his or her case becomes baseless. This is the very first step in making the case strong. If the lawyer fails in this, there is not much hope that you can get medical malpractice damages.

A wrongful death lawsuit is filed when the victim dies as a result of the defendant’s negligence. The suit claims that the survivors of the victim are entitled to because of improper conduct on the part of the accused.

How Surgical Instruments Get Left Inside Patients

According to the National Patient Safety Foundation, medical error is the ninth leading cause of death in the US. The estimated cost of these preventable errors is estimated at $17 billion per year. They believe the medical errors to have been errors on the part of attending doctors and nurses.

According to Resource 4 Surgical Accidents, instruments left in patients after emergency procedures have included tweezers, forceps, clamps, retractors, dilators, suction tubes, irrigation and injection needles, scopes and probes, ultrasound equipment and measurement devices. While medical staff notice obvious tools missing, such as scalpels and clamps, they fail sometimes to notice lesser tools and materials, such as tweezers, sutures, needles, and cotton swabs.

One complication to surgical procedures that patients face when accidents or mistakes occur and items are left inside the body is added procedures to remove the foreign objects. Other problems can be either sharp objects puncturing vital organs or blood vessels, leading to internal bleeding or softer materials such as gauze and sponges causing serious infections, especially when they are not removed immediately.

A recent ABC News report reminds us that there are cosmetic surgery dangers to be aware of. A Connecticut clinic has been shut down for a variety of appalling health violations and medical negligence.

Caring.com recently published an article stating that an estimated 1.5 million people annually are harmed by their medications, and approximately 100,000 of these people die from the harm that the drugs cause.

There is always a feeling of violation when a doctor betrays your trust. While no one is expected to be perfect, least of all a medical practitioner who deals with thousands of cases a year, doctors are expected to be professional in their work.