A doctor misreads your X-ray and misses a vital cancer diagnosis. A surgeon permanently damages the nerves in your hands and arms during a carpal tunnel syndrome surgery. A malignant brain tumor is diagnosed as a migraine without first using an MRI as a diagnostic test. Although we trust our doctors and our hospitals with our health and wellbeing, a surprising number of surgical errors and misdiagnoses are made each year, however, they are difficult to prove. When they do, a competant and experienced Rancho Cucamonga medical malpractice attorney can help you and your family collect compensation for damages.
Did you know that the National Practitioner Data Bank reports that over 150,000 incidents of medical malpractice have occurred in the United States in the last ten years? Still, only one out of eight medical malpractice victims file a legal claim, according to the Harvard Medical Practice Study.
Here at The Inland Empire Law Group, our medical malpractice attorney and recovery professionals are dedicated to serving Rancho Cucamonga, Victorville, Fontana, as well as the surrounding San Bernardino and Riverside counties. We believe that medical malpractice claims are important for two reasons: first, they secure families the financial support they need and deserve after a surgical error or misdiagnosis, and second, they protect future patients from the careless acts of negligent doctors and medical institutions.
Our Medical Malpractice Attorney Will Fight For Your Rights After a Surgical Error
Surgical errors are one of the most common, costly, and deadly forms of medical malpractice. The annual cost of avoidable surgical errors is roughly $17 billion according to a study conducted by the National Patient Safety Benchmarking Center, while the Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that between 32,000 and 98,000 patients die each year due to surgical errors. Many more surgical errors lead to serious injuries, infection, nerve damage, paralysis, and permanent disability.
Common Types of Surgical Errors:
- Anesthesia errors that can lead to numbness, brain damage, and even death.
- Improper equipment sterilization that can lead to infection.
- Operating on the wrong part of the body, such as performing knee surgery on the wrong knee.
- Technical errors.
- Leaving foreign objects, such as scalpels, sponges, tweezers, gauze, or clamps, inside the body cavity.
- Nerve damage that can lead to chronic pain, weakness, numbness, or paralysis.
- Performing surgery on the wrong patient or performing unnecessary surgery.
- Organ puncture that can lead to organ damage, infection, or death.
Our Rancho Cucamonga medical malpractice attorney understands the dire consequences of surgical errors as well as the importance of prosecuting negligent or careless surgeons in California. Working together with our client as a team, we approach surgical error medical malpractice cases with energy, thoroughness, and honesty.
Misdiagnoses, Missed Diagnoses, and Wrong Diagnoses Can Also Qualify as Medical Malpractice
It is imperative that your doctor correctly diagnoses your conditions, illnesses, and diseases. A failure to diagnose a disease or a delay in treating a disease can lead to permanent damage, pain and suffering, the escalation of your illness, and even death. According to our Rancho Cucamonga medical malpractice attorney, while some rare diseases may be hard to pinpoint, doctors can be negligent in their diagnosis if they ignore or overlook symptoms, fail to conduct common diagnostic tests, or misread test results.
Common Misdiagnoses:
- Heart attacks are often misdiagnosed as chest pains or heartburn by emergency room doctors, especially in the case of female heart attack victims who may have less traditional symptoms than males.
- Symptoms of infections are often misdiagnosed or shrugged off by doctors. These missed diagnoses can have permanent, serious, and even fatal results.
- Cancer is the most commonly misdiagnosed disease, many times due to a doctor's failure to conduct cancer screenings. A failure to diagnose cancer can make the disease much more difficult to treat as tumors spread throughout the body. Breast cancer and colon cancer are two of the most frequently misdiagnosed types of cancer.
- Clogged arteries are often dismissed by doctors who think their patients are simply out of shape. Symptoms of clogged arteries such as shortness of breath should be followed up with diagnostic testing.
[Related: 3 Easy Ways to Help Prevent Becoming a Med Mal Victim]
Contact Our Rancho Cucamonga Medical Malpractice Attorney to Get Help With Your Potential Claim
If you think that you or a loved one has been a victim of medical negligence, talk to our Rancho Cucamonga medical malpractice attorney about your potential claim today. The statute of limitations on these types of cases does not last forever. Schedule a no-obligation, confidential consultation with our medical malpractice attorney in our personal injury law office in Rancho Cucamonga by filling out the contact form on this page or by calling our toll-free number at (888) MY-IE-LAW.
So many medical malpractice victims keep silent — make sure that your medical negligence case sees justice, for both your own security and for the safety of future patients.