Negligent Treatment Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Houston

What does and does not constitute negligent treatment isn’t always clear to patients without a history or background in the healthcare field. Was a poor surgical outcome due to a doctor’s error during the surgery or simply an unpredictable complication? Was an injury caused by a medication mix-up the patient’s fault, the pharmacist’s fault or the prescribing doctor’s fault? Was the follow-up care provided to a patient inadequate, or did the patient fail to follow recommendations and suffered a negative outcome?

Bringing a successful negligent treatment claim requires answering those questions and clearly demonstrating a medical professional failed to meet their duty of care. You then must prove the negligence was the direct cause of your injury, and that the outcome was responsible for quantifiable losses.

Identifying who is liable can also be complicated. More than one party might be responsible, including the surgeon, a nurse assisting in the surgery, the anesthesiologist and the hospital that employed them. In other cases, the doctor may have done their job correctly, but the medical device manufacturer produced or shipped a faulty implant.

An experienced medical malpractice lawyer who has handled negligent treatment cases in the past can help explain the potential variables that will influence your case, the parties who might be liable and how you can go about establishing the required criteria to bring a successful malpractice claim.

Our team is here to answer your questions and help you pursue the compensation you and your family need and deserve to move forward.

Common Types of Negligent Treatment

There are too many potential negligent treatment scenarios to list them all on this page, but there are some particularly common buckets of negligent treatment types, including:

• Medication errors
• Surgical errors
• Birth injuries
• Anesthesia errors
• Failure to follow up

Nursing home neglect is sometimes considered its own bucket of medical malpractice but can also be included within the negligent treatment category.

A straightforward example of negligent treatment would be a surgeon operating on the wrong body part, like amputating the wrong leg or arm of a patient or performing surgery on the wrong patient. This would clearly be an example of negligence. Which parties are primarily responsible can vary depending on where the mistake was made and who had a duty to double-check and confirm treatment and patient details prior to the surgery commencing.

Damages in this type of scenario can also be easy to justify, although complicated to fully calculate. A person who loses one or more limbs because of this type of mistake may never be able to work again, justifying significant lost current and future wages. They may require ongoing full-time care for the rest of their life as well as significant home modification due to limited mobility. The emotional and psychological pain and suffering they may experience could be incalculable (although Texas does cap non-economic compensation on a per-defendant basis in some medical malpractice cases).

Another example might be brain damage or asphyxia due to anesthesia. This type of case can be more complicated because it’s necessary to prove the anesthesiologist or another doctor made an error. It’s possible that a patient had a pre-existing condition or simply suffered a bad reaction to the medication.

Failure to account for pre-existing conditions might or might not constitute negligence depending on the likelihood or risk of the reaction occurring and the importance of the procedure. If the risk was high but the procedure was vital and all parties were informed prior to the surgery, the medical staff might be shielded from liability despite a death or adverse surgical outcome.

These cases can become complicated in situations where it’s unclear whether an adverse outcome was due to negligent behavior or the inherent risk of complication within the practice of medicine. Patients can have idiosyncratic reactions despite a doctor doing everything correctly.

Legal Recourse for Negligent Treatment

The most important thing you can do if you believe you or a loved one has been injured by negligent treatment is to receive a second opinion from an appropriate specialist. They can explain whether what the doctor did aligns with the standard of care for doctors of that specialty in that situation.

If, after discussing your situation with another medical professional, you believe the doctor or healthcare provider was negligent, you should contact a medical malpractice attorney. They can help explain the steps that must be taken to prove negligence and help you understand your chances of being able to establish a breach of duty occurred.

A medical malpractice attorney will handle the most difficult and labor-intensive parts of the process so you can focus on recovery. They will:

• Thoroughly investigate your situation by acquiring records from all relevant parties
• Work with medical experts to gather the necessary testimony to establish the standard of care and detail how your doctor’s behavior was negligent
• Quantify the harm you suffered in terms of the added medical costs, lost wages, impact on your family and lifestyle and the emotional pain and suffering you were forced to endure

Our Houston Medical Malpractice Lawyers Fight for Patients Injured by Negligent Treatment 

The medical malpractice attorneys at the Weycer Law Firm are committed to aggressively advocating for people injured by negligent medical professionals. We will work tirelessly in pursuit of the compensation you and your family need to recover and regain a semblance of normalcy. Contact us here or give us a call today at (713) 668-4545.