Delayed Treatment Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Lawyers

How Delaying Treatment May Constitute Medical Malpractice

There are many times when a person seeks medical attention and is under the care of a doctor. This may be due to the fact that there are troubling symptoms or a person wants a medical professional to ensure a healthy pregnancy. That doctor, or other medical professional, has an obligations that his or her patient receives the proper treatment as soon as it becomes medically necessary. If the healthcare provider delays in providing the requisite treatment and the patient suffers serious harm, then that person may be liable for the injury to the patient.

Different Instances Where Delay of Treatment is Critical

Delay of treatment can happen in many different environments, including an emergency room situation where a patient is left untreated for many hours, leading to an exacerbation of the harm that prompted the person to go to the emergency room in the first place. In other cases, a person may experience the negative consequences of a delayed treatment when a trusted medical professional fails to act quickly enough in ordering tests, diagnosing a serious medical condition, or scheduling a surgery or other medical procedure.

There are many times when treatment does not lead to an optimal result that does not involve medical malpractice. However, when the delay was significant enough to lead to harm, then it is important to hold the doctor accountable for the harm that he or she caused. One of the easiest examples to understand, and the most traumatic to address, is when a doctor fails to order a Cesarean section in a timely manner, leading to dangerous complications that jeopardize the lives of the mother and the child. These injuries may include Cerebral Palsy in the child, leading to a lifetime of challenges and serious health issues. It also could lead to excessive bleeding in the mother, depriving her of sufficient oxygen to the brain, leading to permanent damage.

Emergency Room Delays

In addition to delays in receiving treatment from a physician or other medical professional, a person may experience delays leading to significant harm when they go to an emergency room or other urgent care facility. In these places, the healthcare providers are charged with assessing the severity of the patient’s medical need and prioritizing treatment. If this initial review is not done well or is not done at all, then there may be a liability action brought against the doctor or other healthcare provider who cared for the person, as well as a facility that did not have the right protocols in place, leading to a delay in treatment that otherwise could have been avoided.

The delay also could lead to the development of a new injury that is unrelated to the initial injury, but is caused by a delay in the treatment of the issue that brought the person to the emergency room in the first place. If a person comes into the emergency room with symptoms of a heart attack, but does not receive prompt treatment, he or she could experience shortness of breath, leading to a fall from the resulting dizziness. The fall could have led to the patient striking his head on the floor and experiencing a traumatic brain injury (TBI), leading to long-term cognitive and physical harm.

Bringing a Legal Malpractice Claim

There are many different hurdles that must be surmounted in order to bring a successful legal malpractice claim, including:

• Demonstrating that there was a legally-recognizable relationship between the person providing the care and the person being harmed as a result of the delay of treatment;
• Proving that the delay of care was the result of negligence and that a healthcare provider with the same education and background and operating in a similar environment would have made a different decision, which satisfies the burden of demonstrating negligence;
• Showing that the harm suffered by the patient was the direct and proximate result of the healthcare provider’s negligence; and
• Establishing the degree of a harm in a manner that can be compensated through an award of monetary damages.

In bringing a case for a delay of care, it is important to show that there was a deviation from the applicable medical standard of care that applies to a healthcare provider in that particular instance. It is important to show that another reasonable and prudent healthcare provider would have responded in a faster manner, thereby avoiding the additional harm that was done to the patient.

Stern Law, PLLC Advocates for Those Harmed by Delay of Treatment

Many forms of medical malpractice are dramatic and obvious. However, there are many other types of harm that were caused by the delay of treatment where it is not as obvious that the resulting injury was the result of medical malpractice. At Stern Law, PLLC, our medical malpractice attorney understands how to review a case in conjunction with skilled medical experts in order to determine if there is a strong medical malpractice case. In addition to providing strong legal representation to our clients, we also offer resources for anyone who may have questions about medical malpractice, with compassionate and committed staff available to answer questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call us at 1-800-462-5572 or fill out an online contact form in order to learn how we can help you get through this difficult time.