Medical mistakes should never occur. Yet, time and again doctors, nurses, and hospitals commit errors that leave unsuspecting patients injured. In many cases, these victims suffer harm that affects them for the rest of their lives. This is unacceptable, which is why medical malpractice victims need to consider taking legal action.
One woman’s fight against surgical error
One North Carolina woman took her fight against medical malpractice to court when she filed a lawsuit against her doctor for making a mistake that has probably left her infertile. It is alleged that in 2007 the doctor went beyond the scope of informed consent while removing the woman’s uterine fibroids by inserting a mesh barrier. Years later, the mesh broke apart, requiring the woman to undergo emergency surgery. Some medical professionals now think that the woman may need a hysterectomy.
The woman is seeking more than $10 million in damages. Time will tell if she will succeed on her claim.
Carefully assess your situation and don’t sit on it too long
If you’ve been harmed by medical malpractice, then you need to gather as much evidence as possible. Once you have that evidence, you can work with an expert who can help analyze whether the applicable standard of care was breached in your case and, if so, if that breach caused your harm.
You don’t want to sit on your case for too long, though, as doing so could cause the statute of limitations to run, meaning that you’ll be prevented from pursuing the compensation you deserve. This could be an issue in the case mentioned above, but the judge will have to sort out a lot of legal issues before deciding that point.
There’s too much at stake to not be prepared
A lot of successful litigation is simply being prepared. This means knowing the law, understanding how to apply it to your set of circumstances, gathering evidence, and engaging in witness preparation. It can be a challenging and downright overwhelming process for those who aren’t used to it, though. That’s why most medical malpractice victims benefit from having an aggressive advocate on their side.
