You trust your doctor and medical care team to assist you through your pregnancy and delivery so you can have a happy and healthy child. But doctors and nurses are human, and that human element can lead to mistakes and medical errors that can threaten the safety of you and your child during and after delivery. It’s normal to assume that those mistakes automatically qualify as medical malpractice, but that’s not always the case. Before you speak with a Pennsylvania malpractice attorney, it’s helpful to understand the difference between medical errors and malpractice.

What Is a Medical Error?

A medical error is typically regarded as a preventable mistake or error that happens as a result of the medical care you receive. Many errors are minor and can be relatively harmless and cause virtually no lasting harm. However, some can be more severe and lead to more extensive ongoing complications. 

Most medical care facilities and healthcare providers do everything they can to avoid making medical errors. But mistakes can and do happen, and in most cases, they’re completely outside of your control. 

When Medical Errors Become Malpractice

Medical errors are the foundation of medical malpractice. You can’t have a malpractice case without a medical error that caused you or your child to suffer some type of lasting harm. But for a medical error to become medical malpractice, it must satisfy the four elements of medical malpractice.

The Elements of Medical Malpractice

The four elements of medical malpractice provide clear guidance to help you figure out if you have a case and if that case will stand up in court should you decide to file a lawsuit with help from a Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney. Here are the elements that medical errors must satisfy to become medical malpractice:

• Duty of care: Your doctor must have a clear doctor-patient relationship, which establishes that they owe you a duty of care in their actions and treatments administered.
• Breach of duty: For a medical error to become medical malpractice, you must be able to show that the doctor breached that duty of care by failing to adhere to the current standard of care that reasonable physicians would provide.
• Causation: You must be able to show that the medical error caused your injuries.
• Damages: You must suffer from some form of damages, including physical injuries, financial loss, or emotional distress.

Your attorney will help you examine your case and determine if the medical error you experienced qualifies as malpractice.

What to Do if You Think You Have a Case

If you or your child experiences a medical error, you may be eligible to file a medical malpractice case against the doctor or healthcare provider responsible for the error. However, there are a few steps you’ll want to take to set yourself up for success:

• Document everything: Get copies of any medical records that pertain to the injuries you suffered and can show how the injury impacted your life.
• Get a second opinion: You’ll want to see another doctor to get the treatment you or your child need to recover and to establish that the original doctor breached their duty of care.
• Speak with an attorney: As soon as you think you might have a case, contact a Pennsylvania medical malpractice attorney. They’ll help you figure out if filing a lawsuit is in your best interest.

Remember, you can and should hold your medical care team accountable for their actions. Doing so can protect others from going through the pain and suffering you’ve experienced.

Schedule a Consultation Today

If you or your child was injured by a medical error and you’re interested in pursuing a medical malpractice claim against your healthcare provider, don’t wait. Schedule a consultation with Latona Law today.