Determining Fault in Atlanta Medical Malpractice Cases
If you require legal assistance for determining fault in Atlanta medical malpractice cases, consider reaching out to a professional malpractice attorney who can guide you through the necessary steps of your case to see whether or not your circumstances can merit bringing about a case. Become acquainted with the following information to learn more about what goes into determining fault in Atlanta medical malpractice cases, as well as the ways a dedicated lawyer can make a difference for you.
Liability in Misdiagnosis Cases
In a misdiagnosis case, one must be able to show deviation from the standard of care. When someone visits a doctor, the expectation or what the standard of care requires is for the professional to go through a very well-known process of looking at the symptoms, recording medical history, and figuring out what is going on with the patient and their symptoms. They do this by carrying out a physical examination to see what the patient’s vital signs are and then going through a decision process of thinking about what is going on with the patient, making a diagnosis, and treating it.
If a patient presents certain symptoms of an illness and any other physician seeing that patient in the same or similar circumstances would have diagnosed the condition, then that would be a case where the medical professional would potentially have liability for a misdiagnosis or a failure to diagnose. A doctor can be at fault for something they did not do because if in exercising their skill and diligence they missed something that they should not have missed, it is considered negligence under Georgia state law. I
If a medical professional’s failure to act causes a patient to continue on with a disease or an injury that could have been detected and treated earlier, then that is considered negligence and medical malpractice, even though they did not do anything.
Statute of Limitations in Atlanta
In Atlanta medical malpractice cases, the statute of limitations is typically two years from whenever the injury took place. In a misdiagnosis case, it would be when the client presented to the doctors with symptoms of a certain condition that the doctor did not diagnose. That client would then have two years from that date to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
How Does Liability Change in a Case?
In a lot of ways, liability does not change depending on the patient’s medical circumstances, because at its core medical malpractice is about a doctor’s deviation from the standard of care in terms of action or inaction. What will change includes the evidence and the testimony one presents, and specifically the types of professionals that they will rely on.
If an individual is looking at a misdiagnosis case, they are going to have to need a witness with experience in the area of the condition that the patient was misdiagnosed and what kinds of medical professionals are similar to the doctor in question. For example, if one is dealing with a prescription error, then they are they are going to an outside source as testimony who works with that particular prescription, whether it is dispensing it, ordering it, or writing a prescription for patients.
The Role of an Experienced Injury Attorney
If you or a loved one have been seriously injured due to the negligence of a medical professional, consider reaching out to a lawyer with experience in determining fault in Atlanta medical malpractice cases to help you file your claim. A seasoned attorney can gather evidence, interview key witnesses, and act as an aggressive advocate for your compensation. If you require legal assistance in determining fault in Atlanta medical malpractice cases, reach out to a determined injury lawyer today to learn more.
