Medical Malpractice Attorney in Traverse City, Michigan

Medical malpractice can happen at any stage of care, including diagnosis, treatment, aftercare and health management.

Some of the most common examples of medical malpractice include:

Misdiagnosis

An incorrect medical diagnosis can cause a patient to suffer serious and potentially life-threatening injuries. Doctors may incorrectly inform patients that they do not have certain illnesses or diagnose patients with illnesses they do not have. Misdiagnosed conditions could include cancer, heart attacks and pneumonia.

Delayed Treatment

A delay in treatment can prevent a patient from being given the proper treatment options. The longer a patient goes with an accurate diagnosis, the greater the risk of his or her condition becoming worse. For instance, cancer progresses through several stages and when identified early, it can impact whether the illness is treatable. Catching the disease in its later stages because a doctor failed to identify the appropriate diagnosis can be fatal. It could also cause a patient to undergo unnecessary treatments that can be painful.

Medication Errors

This could include errors with dosage amounts, administration methods, and mixtures or interactions among drugs. Medication mistakes can severely injure patients. Health care providers may administer medications that cause allergic reactions in some patients because they failed to check their patient’s medical history.

Surgical Errors

These errors can happen during an operation when a surgeon fails to follow established procedures, operates on the wrong patient, leaves a surgical tool inside the body, fails to protect the surgical site from infection or performs an necessary procedure. Surgical errors can cause sepsis, blood clots, and acute respiratory failure.

Anesthesia Errors

Errors with anesthesia can cause extreme complications that may result in permanent brain damage or lead to death. An anesthesiologist may give the wrong kind of anesthesia or dosage amount, fail to recognize and respond to complications or insufficiently monitor a patent during anesthesia.

Birth Injuries

A birth injury can have tragic consequences for the mother and child. A health care provider may fail to identify an ectopic pregnancy, insufficiently monitor signs of fetal distress, fail to perform a timely C-section, use birthing equipment improperly or mishandle the labor and delivery process altogether.