What should one do if they have been the victim of doctor malpractice or maybe a good friend or family member has been a victim? Numerous people, believe it or not, do not do anything. They assume that physicians are human and permitted to make mistakes, or perhaps they assume that since they signed that waiver form before surgery, they have forfeited their right to any malpractice judicial proceeding.
Nothing could be further from the truth for either assumption. When you are requested or required to sign that waiver form before a surgery, that does not waive your rights if the hospital or doctor screws up the surgery royally out of neglect, mistreatment, wrong medicinal drugs, and many more possible actions, especially when those faults result in damage or injury to the patient that may be lasting, or even death. That waiver form is actually quite useless, but the hospital or doctor want you to believe you have waived your rights, where in reality you have not.
There is a difference however in doctor malpractice and the end result of an operation not being what you needed it to be. For example, if you have surgery performed to remove a tumor and the operating surgeon has performed everything correctly but was not able to remove the tumor, you do not have a legitimate malpractice case just because you were not pleased with the end result, since there was no negligence involved.
The greatest thing you can do any time you are in the hospital and maybe looking at a surgery is to keep detailed notes about what has taken place every step of the way. Maintain a notebook or diary and write down facts such as what medicinal drugs are administered, what the doctor states, as well as dates and times of each event. If anything does go south during the procedure, these notes you have maintained will be a really strong point in your favor if you desire the greatest chances of filing a successful doctor malpractice lawsuit.
If you elect to go ahead with a lawsuit, do not attempt it on your own. You should acquire the services of a local experienced malpractice lawyer who recognizes malpractice law and can counsel you as to what to expect and how to proceed, as well as representing you if the suit end up in court. There are generally no legal charges for this, since the lawyer will normally establish a percentage of the settlement as their fee, and if they do not win your case, there is no fee to be paid. But with that stated, the majority of valid malpractice lawsuits are settled out of court since neither the doctor nor the hospital want to get the volume of negative publicity that a court case would create for them.
If you believe you have been a victim of doctor malpractice, then do something about it. Meet with an attorney to talk over the case. It may not right the damage that occurred but a malpractice settlement can make life a bit simpler for you as you move into the future. Do not forget, you have rights, and that waiver that was signed does not eliminate those legal rights in the least.
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