10 Signs You May Have a Claim for Hospital Medical Malpractice in Louisiana

10 Signs You May Have a Claim for Hospital Medical Malpractice in Louisiana

Medical malpractice is alarmingly common, especially in the hospital setting. If you have concerns about the quality of care you or a loved one received in a Louisiana hospital, you should speak with a medical malpractice lawyer promptly. Patients and family members can file claims in a broad range of circumstances, and successful claimants can recover financial compensation for their medical bills, loss of income, and other financial and non-financial losses.

You May Have a Claim for Hospital Medical Malpractice in Louisiana If…

How do you know if you have a claim for hospital medical malpractice? Here are 10 signs you may have a claim:

1. You Received an Inaccurate Diagnosis

Misdiagnosis is among the most common forms of medical malpractice in hospitals. If you sought treatment in a hospital and your doctor misdiagnosed your condition, you may have a claim for just compensation. This is true whether your doctor diagnosed you with the wrong condition or sent you home without a diagnosis despite having access to the information and tests needed to accurately identify your injury or illness.

2. Your Doctor Didn’t Diagnose Your Condition in Time to Prevent Complications

Delayed diagnosis is another extremely common issue in hospitals. Depending on the nature of a patient’s condition, even a delay of hours—if not minutes—can be enough to cause unnecessary harm. In cases involving cancers and other chronic illnesses, it can be months or years before a doctor finally makes a diagnosis. Regardless of the length of the delay, if your doctor didn’t diagnose your condition in time to prevent complications, you could have a claim for medical malpractice under Louisiana law.

3. Your Prescribed Treatment Isn’t Helping

If your prescribed treatment isn’t helping, this could mean one of two things. Either: (i) your doctor misdiagnosed your condition; or, (ii) your doctor prescribed a treatment modality that is ineffective given your personal health characteristics. Neither of these is okay, and neither should go ignored. If your doctor prescribed an ineffective form of treatment, you may have a claim for medical malpractice.

4. Your Diagnosis and Your Treatment Don’t Match

If you have researched your diagnosis or obtained a second opinion and discovered that your doctor’s prescribed treatment doesn’t match your diagnosis, this could mean that you have a medical malpractice claim as well. Unfortunately, it isn’t unusual for doctors to prescribe the wrong treatment options, whether due to lack of medical knowledge, mistakenly recommending the wrong treatment, or confusing one patient for another.

5. Your Doctor or Nurse Made a Medication Error

Medication errors are also alarmingly common in the hospital setting. If your doctor prescribed the wrong medication or wrong dosage, or if you received an incorrect medication or dosage as an inpatient, you may have a medical malpractice claim. Taking the wrong medication or taking too much (or too little) of a prescription drug can be extremely dangerous, so it is important that you see another doctor as soon as possible as well.

6. You Suffered Complications from Anesthesia or Surgery

Generally speaking, unanticipated complications from anesthesia or surgery should not happen. Hospitals should conduct appropriate patient examinations before administering anesthesia, and surgeons should only perform procedures they are capable of performing without causing harm. Failure to consider contraindications for anesthesia, administering too much anesthesia, and mistakes during surgery are all avoidable issues that can (and frequently will) rise to the level of medical malpractice under Louisiana law.

7. You Received Treatment for Which You Did Not Provide Informed Consent

As a patient in Louisiana, you have the right to make informed decisions about your medical care in the vast majority of circumstances. If you received treatment in a hospital for which you did not provide informed consent, and if you have suffered harm as a result, you should speak with a medical malpractice lawyer about your legal rights. This is true whether you did not provide consent at all or your doctor failed to adequately explain the risks of your treatment or procedure.

8. You Have New Symptoms or Your Condition Has Gotten Worse

If you sought treatment in a hospital and you have new symptoms or your condition has gotten worse, this could also be evidence of medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, failure to treat, improper treatment, and medication errors are all possibilities, and you will need to see a new doctor at an unaffiliated facility who can both identify the hospital’s mistake and provide you with appropriate care.

9. The Hospital Is Understaffed or Poorly Managed

Inadequate staffing and poor management are both pervasive issues in hospitals in Louisiana. However, being short staffed or hiring unqualified professionals is not an excuse for providing substandard care. Hospitals owe the same duties to their patients regardless of their hiring needs.

10. Your Doctor or Nurse Admitted Fault

Doctors and nurses rarely admit fault, because they know that doing so can expose them (and their employers) to medical malpractice liability. So, if your doctor or nurse does admit fault, this is significant. In some cases, doctors and nurses will admit fault in hopes of patients and family members accepting their apologies and moving on with their lives. But, for harmed patients and grieving family members, apologies are not enough. Medical mistakes can have lifelong financial and non-financial consequences, and those who are suffering need to make sure they receive the compensation they deserve.

These are just examples. Patients and family members can file medical malpractice claims against hospitals in a wide range of other circumstances as well. To find out if you have a claim, you should discuss your (or your loved one’s) care with an experienced hospital medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.

Schedule a Free Consultation with an Alexandria Hospital Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Alexandria hospital medical malpractice lawyer Chris J. Roy, Jr. brings decades of experience to helping patients and family members recover just compensation. For a free, no-obligation consultation about your legal rights, please call 318-487-9537 or get in touch online today.