Medical malpractice cases involve claims of injuries Fresno Medical Lawsuit Help and damages resulting from a doctor’s negligent or improper care. Such injuries can include apprehensive additional medical expenses, future treatment costs, and measurable quality of life losses.
A lawsuit filed by local nonprofits Cultiva La Salud and Fresno Building Healthy Communities alleges one of the city’s largest hospitals misused $1 billion in public funds. The two parties have asked for a pause in the case, and attorneys are having productive discussions that may lead to a resolution.
1. Failure to Diagnose
In some cases, a medical professional may reach the wrong conclusion even when they follow diagnostic and professional principles. This can result in serious consequences for a patient.
Failing to diagnose a condition or misdiagnosing it can lead to prolonged health problems, improper treatment, disease progression, and death. Often, victims of these errors can claim compensation for lost earnings, a diminished quality of life moving forward, and other tangible damages.
Local healthcare providers are held to high standards of care, but mistakes still occur at worrying rates. This includes surgery screw-ups, medication errors, failure ensuring infection control, overnight monitoring negligence allowing patients to destabilize without intervention, and more.
2. Failure to Treat
Under California law, it is malpractice if your doctor breaches their duty of care by failing to treat an injury or illness. This can include ignoring symptoms, delaying treatment, or discharging you too soon.
You can sue your medical provider for failure to treat if it leads to additional injury or wrongful death. You can also sue the hospital or medical facility where the medical malpractice occurred, but only if they were directly involved in your treatment. Most doctors work as independent contractors at hospitals, but nurses and other medical staff are direct employees.
A local community health system that operates downtown Fresno’s Community Medical Center and Clovis Community Medical Center has reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit over kickback arrangements. While no financial settlement can undo the damage of medical negligence, bringing accountability and positive change can carry profound value.
3. Failure to Monitor
A doctor’s duty to continuously monitor a patient extends beyond diagnosing an illness and prescribing treatment. This duty is particularly important in high-risk environments such as the hospital operating room and post-surgery care.
A physician’s failure to monitor a patient’s condition can result in serious injuries or death. Such injuries can include infections, internal bleeding, stroke, respiratory failure, and brain damage.
Whether caused by surgical mistakes, medication mismanagement, ER overcrowding, delayed diagnoses of treatable diseases, or overnight monitoring negligence allowing a patient’s health to deteriorate without intervention, these failures can qualify as medical malpractice.
If you believe a loved one’s death or injury was the result of healthcare providers’ failure to monitor their condition, you may be eligible for financial recovery. Our legal team will evaluate the details of your case to determine if there are grounds for a claim.
4. Failure to Refer
Health care providers must refer their patients to specialists when their medical needs are beyond the scope of their expertise. A failure to refer could qualify as a medical malpractice.
General practitioners may fail to refer their patients for several reasons. They may overestimate their own ability to treat the condition, downplay a patient’s symptoms or not want to lose revenue by sending the patient elsewhere.
Failing to refer can lead to a delay in diagnosis, a worsening of a condition, additional health issues, pain and suffering, loss of income, disability, emotional distress and even death. These negative consequences could qualify as a breach of the physician’s duty of reasonable care and therefore be medical malpractice. A Fresno medical malpractice lawyer can help determine whether the doctor’s failure to refer harmed you or your loved one.
5. Negligence
Medical malpractice is a type of negligence that occurs when a healthcare provider fails to provide a patient with the appropriate care. This can include medical errors like misdiagnosis and surgical mistakes, as well as improper treatment and medication.
Hospitals and other facilities can also be held liable for medical malpractice if they employed a doctor who committed malpractice, however, most doctors are independent contractors, absolving hospitals from liability. Only nurses and other hospital staff are direct employees of a facility and could be sued for medical malpractice.
An experienced Fresno medical malpractice lawyer can help families determine whether there are grounds for filing a claim. Even if a lawsuit cannot reverse crushing loss, it may facilitate financial compensation. The lawyers at Moseley Collins Law are committed to holding medical professionals accountable when they breach their duties and cause harm to patients.