5 Things You Should Know About Ohio Medical Malpractice

If you suspect a health care provider or medical facility harmed you or a loved one, you should speak with a Columbus. Ohio. medical malpractice attorney to discuss the situation. Medical mistakes and neglect cause tens of thousands of injuries, illnesses, and, too often, deaths across the United States each year. But proving a case and receiving compensation is difficult.

To help you know if you may have grounds for taking legal action after an adverse health outcome, the Columbus medical malpractice lawyers with Agee Clymer Mitchell & Portman explain five things everyone should know about medical malpractice. Each case is unique, however, so we invite residents of central Ohio to contact us with specific questions and concerns. Free, no-pressure consultations can be scheduled by calling (614) 678-3318 or completing this online contact form.

Medical malpractice takes many forms.

A partial list of harms to a patient that can give grounds for filing medical malpractice claims includes

• Performing surgery on the wrong patient
• Operating on the wrong body part
• Causing damage to nearby organs while performing surgery
• Leaving implements or sponges inside a patient’s body after surgery
• Failing to prevent a post-op infection
• Administering the wrong drug or the wrong dose
• Failing to administer medications as prescribed to a hospital patient
• Allowing a patient to fall out of bed
• Abusing a patient
• Misdiagnosing a debilitating or deadly condition
• Failing to follow an appropriate plan for treating a condition
• Allowing a baby to go without oxygen for a prolonged period during delivery, leading to brain damage
• Injuring a mother or baby during delivery

Negligence is required.

Health outcomes are never guaranteed. Sometimes, a patient fails to recover or dies even though all the health care providers did their best. This is what makes medical malpractice cases so difficult.

In order to succeed with an insurance claim or lawsuit over malpractice, a patient must present evidence that

• The defendant named in the claim owed the plaintiff-patient a duty of care,
• The defendant acted negligently and failed to meet the usual and customary standards for providing that care, and
• The plaintiff suffered an identifiable harm as a result of the defendant’s failure to meet their duty.

In less legalistic language, it is not enough to say you did not get better, rather, a patient should work with a Columbus medical malpractice to establish what would be the expected outcome if an error was not made, and then show exactly how the defendant did not act in a standard way. Getting expert analysis and testimony is often required.

All health care providers are prone to malpractice.

Most people only think of surgeons when medical malpractice comes to mind, but all kinds of physicians may be held liable for making errors that harm patients. Dentists, nurses, and pharmacists also have many duties to patients. Beyond their person duties to patients, highly degreed health care providers can be held responsible for the harmful negligence of the assistants and aides they supervise.

Hospitals and clinics can be held liable for medical malpractice.

Medical facilities and group practices that employ health care providers have duties to train, equip, and oversee those professionals. When a patient suffers harm because the managers of a facility failed to meet their duties, the facility can be named as a defendant in a medical malpractice claim along with any provider who was directly involved.

A claim for medical malpractice must be filed quickly.

Ohio enforces a 1-year statute of limitations on medical malpractice claims. This means that, except in very specific circumstances, court will automatically reject a claim that is filed more than 12 months after the date on which harm was discovered or the date on which the patient last interacted with the provider and/or facility named as the defendant. Consulting with a Columbus, Ohio, medical malpractice will help you understand which rules of the statute of limitations apply to your potential case.