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Liability in Irvine Medical Malpractice Cases
In a medical malpractice matter, the conduct and treatment suggested and pursued by a particular physician will need to be analyzed. The fact that a lay person may believe that a physician or healthcare provider has committed negligence does not necessarily mean that such a case will be successful as the breach of the standard of care or negligent conduct has to be the cause of the injury to the patient. With this in mind, the facts of any medical malpractice case need to be analyzed carefully by an experienced Irvine medical malpratice lawyer.
Liability in Misdiagnosis Cases
When a particular physician is treating a patient and working up a diagnosis, they initially view the symptoms and work up a differential diagnosis. This means that they are considering several diseases or medical problems as causing the patients symptoms.
If the physician does not properly analyze the symptoms and makes the wrong diagnosis, such treatment can leave the actual disease untreated and cause serious problems for the patient. When the physician delegates their order to a nurse or other hospital or clinic staff, the physician still is responsible as the “captain of the ship,” which means that they are responsible for directing the treatment that may be carried out by other ancillary healthcare staff. The primary care physician, in this circumstance, is generally responsible for all of the treatment and potential medical malpractice errors made at their direction by other staff members.
Consent Forms and Waivers
It is very common that a patient is required to sign a consent form before undergoing a specific medical procedure or surgery. However, even if a consent form is signed, it does not justify a healthcare practitioner who commits a medical negligent act which causes further damages. The patient is only consenting to treatment within the standard of care based upon what other healthcare providers would do in a similar circumstance.
In this regard, the mere signing of the consent form does not always determine or conclusively prohibit the victim from proceeding with a medical malpractice case.
Common Misconceptions About Liability
Merely because a physician may have prescribed the wrong drug or not utilized the most effective treatment does not necessarily mean that a medical malpractice case would be automatically successful. The negligent conduct of the physician has to be directly related to causation of further medical injuries or damages. The committing of medical negligence from a liability standpoint, without causation of damages, would not lead to a viable medical malpractice case.
All of the required elements need to be satisfied, which would include that the physician was liable (breached the standard of care) and that such conduct was the direct cause of injury or death of the patient. This is one of the reasons why these cases can be very complicated and need to be handled by a very experienced medical malpractice lawyer.
Benefit of an Irvine Medical Malpractice Lawyer
An experienced medical malpractice attorney will be able to review the particular facts and medical records of a potential case and advise the client regarding the viability of such a case. This requires the attorney to have an appropriate amount of experience, medical knowledge, and expertise in order to even analyze the case at the outset.
Many medical malpractice attorneys have gained experience by working in the medical field or through the handling of prior medical malpractice cases over the course of many years. These are exceedingly difficult and complicated cases which need to be handled by an experienced attorney.