When Medical Mistakes Cause Permanent Damage: Your Rights Under California Law
When you seek medical care, you trust your doctor to do what is best for you and what their training dictates. No one expects doctors to be perfect, but we do expect them to avoid gross negligence. When they fail to meet that basic standard and cause preventable harm to a patient, patients have the option to work with a medical malpractice lawyer to seek compensation.
At Ewanisyzk Law Firm, we understand the devastation that medical malpractice can leave in its wake. Led by attorney Richard M. Ewaniszyk, our firm brings decades of experience to every case we accept. Whether you’ve been injured during surgery, due to a missed diagnosis, or a misinterpretation of diagnostic testing results, we’re here for you. Call our medical malpractice law firm at 760-245-7310 to get started.
What is Considered a Medical Mistake Under California Law?
Not every bad medical outcome is medical malpractice, which can be a hard thing to accept. Complications can happen or procedures can fail even when a care provider does everything right. For something to be considered medical malpractice, a medical care provider must fail to meet the accepted standard of care for their area of practice. For example, consider an OB/GYN who orders a C-section at the first sign of fetal distress, only for the baby to still be born with disabilities due to hypoxia. While the outcome is tragic and difficult for the parents, the OB/GYN likely met the standard of their care in their field by ordering a C-section at the earliest sign of trouble. However, note that this is a nuanced area of law, so it’s best to discuss your case with a medical malpractice lawyer.
What’s considered a breach of a doctor’s standard of care? It varies between specialties and procedures. Common examples of medical mistakes include:
- Surgical errors, such as operating on the wrong site or leaving instruments behind
- Anesthesia errors leading to brain damage or death
- Medication errors
- Misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis
- Birth injuries from poor monitoring or delayed delivery decisions
- Failure to respond to medical complications
For something to be considered medical malpractice, the mistake must involve a breach of a doctor’s professional duty that leads to harm. With a medical malpractice attorney, you can figure out whether or not your doctor breached their professional duty.
What Types of Permanent Damage May Arise
Some medical errors lead to temporary complications, while others leave patients with a lifetime of deficits, pain, and disability. Examples of permanent damage include:
- Brain damage
- Paralysis or nerve damage
- Loss of limb or amputation
- Loss of vision or hearing
- Preventable worsening of a disease
- Disfigurement or scarring
- Organ damage
- Infertility
- Chronic pain
These injuries often go beyond your physical health. They can also permanently affect your ability to work, care for your family, or live life as you once did.
Do You Have a Medical Malpractice Claim?
If you want to pursue a case with a medical malpractice law firm, a few things must be true. First, there must have been a provider-patient relationship. The provider’s care must have fallen below the standard of care they are expected to uphold. That failure must be directly linked to your injury. Your injury must have caused you measurable damages.
Expert medical testimony plays a big role in medical malpractice cases. By comparing what your care provider did to what another care provider with similar education and experience would have done in a similar situation, the court can see whether or not they acted appropriately.
The timing of your claim is also important. Generally, under California law, you have one year from the date of discovering your injury or three years from the date of the injury to file a claim—whichever date comes first. There are exceptions, such as cases involving fraud, intentional concealment, or the presence of a foreign body in the injured person’s body.
How Compensation Works
If your claim is successful, you may receive compensation for both economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses are those with a clear financial value, such as your medical expenses and lost wages, while non-economic losses include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
Discuss Your Claim With Our Team Now
If you’ve suffered at the hands of a medical professional, it’s time to talk to our medical malpractice attorneys. Call us at 760-245-7310 or send us a message online to get started.
Mr. Ewaniszyk was first admitted to practice law in 1982 and he lived and raised his family in the High Desert since 1986. He has successfully represented hundreds of clients each year suffering from serious and catastrophic personal injuries, those accused of criminal offenses, people going through divorce and family law matters, and families facing bankruptcy. Mr. Ewaniszyk has tried many cases in both Federal and State Courts during his extensive career and previously served for five years as the City Attorney for the City of Adelanto. Learn more here.