Medical professionals in Iowa have a high duty of care toward their patients. The actions of doctors, nurses, and surgeons can affect a person’s life indefinitely, therefore, they must always act with complete competence. Unfortunately, sometimes mistakes occur in the medical field, just as in any other profession. While some of these mistakes could not have been prevented by even the most experienced doctors, other mistakes may be seen as negligent. They could be subject to a medical malpractice claim.
If you have suffered as a result of what you believe to be a medical professional’s negligent actions, you may want to consider taking action. If you want to do this, it is important to understand the different categories that medical malpractice lawsuits tend to fall into, so that you can learn whether your situation might qualify.
Failure to gain treatment
If you were correctly diagnosed with a condition, you probably felt safe in the belief that now you would be treated competently. However, sometimes a medical professional may not treat the patient appropriately based on their diagnosis. This may be because of an administrative error or to try and cut costs.
Surgical mistakes
An error during surgery can occur when a surgeon is not competent or is not giving enough attention or care to the situation. A surgical error could lead to severe pain, organ damage, infection, or even death.
Delayed diagnosis or missed diagnosis
If you are suffering from certain symptoms, a medical provider will likely have to investigate several possibilities in order to make a diagnosis. However, they will need to conduct appropriate tests to establish this and rule out any other conditions. If a doctor is not competent, you may be misdiagnosed or suffer a delay in treatment because your diagnosis took so long to establish.
Medical malpractice lawsuits can result from many different situations. However, the main factors that are always present are the fact that damages occurred, the patient suffered as a result and the medical provider exhibited negligent or reckless behavior. If you have suffered unfairly due to a medical experience in Iowa, it is important that you take appropriate action.
Contact Ball, Kirk & Holm today to speak with our medical malpractice lawyers in a free consultation.