Each medical malpractice case is unique. One patient may be prescribed the wrong medication or the wrong dose of medication. Another patient might undergo surgery, only to find out that the surgery was performed on the wrong side of their body. Whatever the medical error in any given case, it is possible that serious injury or death may result.
In one recent medical malpractice action, a verdict was issued in favor of the family of a nearly eighty-nine-year-old man. The man died after a feeding tube was inserted into his lung instead of into his stomach. A feeding tube had been successfully placed before when the man was transferred to the hospital from a nursing home, but he had removed the tube. The man was restrained so that he could not pull out his feeding tube, and another feeding tube was put in. That tube was removed by doctors after an X-ray revealed that it had been placed improperly, into his lung instead of his stomach. The tube was inserted a third time, and x-rays taken following its insertion showed it as being in the stomach, and not in the lung. However, the tube had been inserted into the lung, and the feeding solution dripped into his lung for twelve hours until he died of drowning.
The aforementioned medical malpractice case is just one example of how medical care can go horribly wrong. There are many kinds of avoidable medical errors, and these errors, when taken as a group, are the third leading cause of death in America, claiming approximately seven hundred lives every day.
Medical malpractice in the form of medical errors is a form of negligence. Negligence occurs when someone either does something that a reasonably prudent person in a similar situation wouldn’t do or fails to do something that a reasonably prudent person would do in that situation. In a medical setting, the reasonably prudent person is a reasonably prudent doctor, with all of the training and knowledge that goes along therewith. In a medical malpractice case, the patient would have lived if they had been treated by a reasonably prudent doctor instead of by a negligent doctor.
Giddens Law Firm, P.A.: Supporting Mississippi Medical Malpractice Plaintiffs
If you were injured or someone that you love die as the result of medical malpractice, you may have a medical malpractice cause of action against the people or people whose conduct caused the error that hurt you or killed your loved one. The Mississippi Medical Malpractice Attorneys at the Giddens Law Firm, P.A. may be able to help you bring a medical malpractice claim against the parties who are responsible for your injuries or the death of your family member. A medical malpractice claim could help you recover both physically and financially after your accident. To learn more about how we may be able to help you, please call our office today, at (601) 355-2022.