Whether undergoing a routine medical procedure or receiving emergency medical care, we trust healthcare professionals with our lives and our health. When doctors, nurses, physical therapists, or other healthcare professionals fail to provide this acceptable level of care, they put their patients at risk of injury or illness. If a healthcare professional fails to meet the appropriate standard of care and their patient is hurt as a result, it may be considered medical malpractice or negligence.
Every year in the United States there are between 15,000 and 19,000 medical malpractice lawsuits filed. Victims injured by medical malpractice may be entitled to recover compensation for their injuries. If you believe that you or a loved one have been a victim of medical malpractice, contact Stark & Stark’s medical malpractice lawyers in Marlton, New Jersey today for a free legal consultation.
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What is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice refers to when a medical professional—a doctor, nurse, surgeon, specialist, or another healthcare worker—is deviant or careless by failing to provide adequate care to a patient, resulting in injuries. Not every unfavorable outcome in the medical field will constitute a medical malpractice claim. However, when it can be shown that a medical professional was negligent and did not act as a reasonable healthcare worker in the same situation would, this may be grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
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Common Types of Medical Malpractice
Our New Jersey medical malpractice attorneys have experience representing clients injured in a diverse range of medical malpractice cases.
Surgical Errors: Surgical errors include operating on the wrong area of the body, performing surgery on the wrong patient, unnecessary surgery, leaving foreign objects inside the body, or other injuries that may occur as a result of negligence during surgery.
Misdiagnosis/Delayed Diagnosis: Oftentimes a patient’s prognosis depends on how early a health condition, such as heart disease or cancer, is diagnosed. Doctors can be held liable if they fail to diagnose a disease or illness in a timely manner, and the patient’s health is negatively affected as a result.
Failure to monitor: This can refer to healthcare workers failing to check a patient’s vitals during a medical procedure or while under medical supervision, failure to respond to life-threatening emergencies, and/or failure to provide adequate care to a patient in their facility.
Nursing home abuse: If nursing home staff neglect patients in their care by failing to properly administer medications or clean and feed patients, it can cause serious and sometimes fatal injuries, including bedsores, malnutrition, and dehydration. Nursing home staff may also be held liable if they fail to follow guidelines meant to prevent residents from falling or otherwise injuring themselves.
Prescription error: Prescription errors may be caused by the doctor prescribing or the pharmacist. Doctors may commit prescription errors by failing to take a patient’s medical history into account, or any possible allergies or drug interactions. Pharmacists may commit prescription errors by mislabeling or incorrectly filling prescriptions, filling the wrong prescriptions, or filling prescriptions that may negatively interact with other medications the patient is already taking.
Birth Injuries: A doctor, nurse, or healthcare worker’s failure to provide adequate care before, after, or during birth can result in injuries, including brain damage, cerebral palsy, disfigurement, pre-eclampsia, and more.
What Types of Compensation Is Available in a New Jersey Medical Malpractice Case?
All medical professionals are expected to provide a reasonable standard of care to their patients. When someone is injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, they have a right to sue for their losses or damages. In personal injury lawsuits, damages are broken up into two categories: economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages: Economic damages refer to measurable financial losses taken as a result of your injuries that can be accounted for using bills, receipts, or similar units of measurement. These can include:
- Medical bills: All medical bills related to your injuries and the estimated cost of future medical care.
- Lost wages: Income lost due to time away from work as a result of your injuries.
- Loss of earning capacity: The loss of the ability to earn what you did prior to being injured or becoming ill if your condition limits your ability to perform your work.
Non-economic damages: Noneconomic damages refer to losses that are subjective and non-monetary, and would be subjectively evaluated by a jury. Non-economic damages include:
- Pain and suffering: Often medical malpractice can leave you with life-long injuries that may cause immense pain and suffering, both physical and mental.
- Emotional Distress: This can include diagnoses like PTSD, anxiety, and depression due to your injuries.
- Permanent disfigurement: Permanent disfigurement includes permanent injuries like scarring or loss of a limb.
- Loss of enjoyment of life: This refers to when a person’s injuries prevent them from participating in activities that they used to enjoy.
How Can a Marlton Medical Malpractice Lawyer Help Me?
Medical malpractice lawsuits can be notoriously complex. Stark & Stark’s personal injury attorneys are highly trained trial lawyers and negotiators who will guide you through every step of the claims process in order to ensure you receive the maximum compensation you may be entitled to for your medical malpractice injuries.
Our medical malpractice law firm is highly connected with a network of medical experts to help build your claim with the necessary evidence and expert testimony. When an appropriate settlement cannot be reached through negotiations, our medical malpractice trial lawyers have decades of experience inside of the courtroom and will aggressively fight for justice to the fullest extent of your injuries.
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Contact Stark & Stark’s Medical Malpractice Lawyers Today
For over 80 years, the catastrophic personal injury lawyers at Stark & Stark have helped victims throughout New Jersey who have been injured due to a medical professional’s negligence or carelessness. Our medical malpractice attorneys work with compassion and have a long track record of success. Over the recent decades, we have recovered billions of dollars on behalf of victims and their families.
Our malpractice attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, so we do not take any fees unless you receive a settlement or verdict. If you or a loved one have been the victim of medical malpractice, contact our Marlton, New Jersey medical malpractice lawyers today for a free legal consultation.
