When you go in for a complicated procedure or are experiencing unusual symptoms, it sends your mind racing. You play out the worst-case scenarios in your mind, hoping that they won’t come true and everything will go according to plan.

Unfortunately, nobody can guarantee that everything will go as it should. But if you were further harmed or injured by a medical mistake or due to sub-standard care, there may be a case for medical negligence.

Negligence can come in many faces and take many guises. Here are just some of the cases where compensation would be awarded to the patient as part of a medical malpractice claim. Learn what is considered medical malpractice here.

Anesthesia

Having invasive surgery is always a risk. Not just because of the procedure itself, but also due to the involvement of anesthetic. The patient goes in for a routine operation and is administered anesthetic for the duration of the surgery. However, due to the prior use of a treatment which increases the risk involved in using anesthetic, the dose causes the patient to die.

In this case, the patient’s family would undoubtedly be entitled to compensation. The patient suffered a fatal injury due to negligence on the part of the hospital staff.

Diagnosis

A young boy was displaying unusual symptoms, and his concerned parents took him to A&E. Once there, despite showing signs of distress and symptoms of an underlying illness, the medical staff sent him home.

A couple of days later the child’s condition is deteriorating. They take him to the family doctor but rather than admit the child; he also sends him home. After five days of symptoms, he was admitted to hospital in a critical condition. The delay in the child’s diagnosis and treatment led the child to suffer permanent brain damage and hemiplegia, meaning he will require living assistance for the rest of his life.

In this case, the family and patient were successfully able to win compensation, which amounted to potential lifetime earnings for the child due to his inability to work. The delay in the diagnosis directly resulted in harm to the patient and the case for negligence was strong.

General Negligence

A young man was admitted to hospital following a fit. While he was there he suffered a fall as two nurses were moving him from one bed to another, injuring the left side of his head, just above his left eye.

No accident report was filed, and he did not undergo any form of scan. Over the next few days, the man’s condition began to deteriorate. He fell in and out of consciousness, despite having no sedative medication, and lost control of his bodily functions. Finally, he fell unconscious and his girlfriend was unable to wake him.

It was determined that the young man had suffered intra-cranial bleeding caused by a fracture in the skull from the fall. He died later that day. His family had strong legal grounds in a medical malpractice case as the medical staff had failed to uphold their duty of care. Even if they could not have prevented the fall, they had the responsibility to refer the young man for scans which could have prevented his deterioration and death.

Birth Injury

In 2011, a woman ran into complications during a homebirth. She was rushed to hospital for an emergency c-section operation. However, due to a high volume of patients, she was unable to receive the surgery immediately and was forced to wait 90 minutes for the operation.

The delay caused permanent damage to the child’s intellectual and cognitive function. The child’s mother received one of the largest malpractice awards in Maryland history. She was awarded $55 million in the state courts.

There are a vast number of scenarios in which the patient or their family would be entitled to compensation for medical malpractice. Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, childbirth complications, medication errors, anesthesia errors, surgical errors, and general negligence can all lead to cases of medical negligence awards. Find an attorney with a wealth of experience in handling medical malpractices cases to get you or your loved one the compensation you deserve.