Dissatisfaction with Your Doctor’s Treatment is not Medical Malpractice

Hospital surgery does always work out the way you would like it to, but that does not necessarily mean you are a victim of medical malpractice.

Not everyone is going to be thrilled with the outcome of a medical event. Perhaps they needed gallbladder surgery, a broken arm reset, an angiogram or cancer surgery. All medical procedures come with a certain level of risk for the patient, and in most instances, they are fully aware of what those risks are in having the procedure done, just as they are aware of what may happen if they do not have it done.

Most medical procedures and treatments go without a hitch. There is the odd one that does not go as planned and the challenge at time is to figure out whether or not the patient was a victim of medical negligence or just a bad outcome, something the doctor may not have any control over. This is why patients are asked to sign informed consent forms prior to any treatment or surgery, acknowledging they are aware of the nature of the treatment, what other alternatives there are and what risks they may face.

There certainly are instances where an informed consent form was not given to the patient, was given to the patient when they were under the influence of mind-altering drugs or handed to them just before they hit the operating room. Under those circumstances, there may well be a case made for medical malpractice. However, the patient must also be aware that signing those consent forms does not guarantee them results and that they are additionally agreeing that their procedure does have risk and that the results may not always be what they expect.

To initiate a medical malpractice lawsuit, the patient needs to show that the doctor was negligent. In legal terms, that would mean that the doctor’s conduct fell way below the accepted standard of treatment by others in the same area of practice. For instance, medical malpractice may be present if the doctor gives a patient the wrong blood type, removes the wrong leg while amputating, leaves a surgical instrument inside a patient or operates on the wrong patient.

Stranger things have happened, and some of them are the direct result of negligence. Some of them are a bad outcome to a situation in which everything else was done correctly. The difference between medical negligence and a bad outcome is something you need to speak to a qualified Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer about. Their job is helping people who have been harmed by medical negligence. If you suspect you may have been a victim of a medical error, do not hesitate to call a Cleveland medical malpractice lawyer and find out what your rights are.

Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more, visit Christophermellino.com.

Tagged with: , ,