People in Louisiana who believe the injuries they suffered constitute medical negligence may have difficulty proving the allegations in court. There are five specific elements of negligence they must prove when presenting a medical malpractice claim in a civil court....
Informed consent allows patients to approve medical treatment
Patients in Baton Rouge and elsewhere must give consent before undergoing certain medical treatments or procedures. However, doctors must ensure patients are fully informed about the proposed treatment and that all their questions were answered in a language they...
Factors required for viable medical malpractice claims
Although regulations and standards could vary by state, medical malpractice laws in Louisiana and elsewhere entitle patients to seek recovery of damages caused by harm suffered due to substandard medical treatment. The harm could involve medical errors in diagnosis,...
Never-events: Medical errors that should simply not ever occur
Although preventable surgical errors are not that common, it would not be unusual for patients in Louisiana who are scheduled for surgery to feel anxious. Occasional reports of WSPEs -- wrong-site, wrong-procedure, wrong-patient errors -- are enough to create fear of...
Who failed to spot your cancer?
Think about any sports team. There are usually a couple of star players who take the credit when things go well and the blame when they don’t. The performance of others gets less attention. Hospitals are similar. The doctors are the stars of the show. They are the...
Telemedicine and the risks of diagnostic errors
Have you ever had a phone or video call with your doctor? So-called telemedicine has been an option offered for a number of years, but its popularity has gone way up since the beginning of 2020 (when Covid-19 reached U.S. shores). Now, it seems that many people...
Medical malpractice and diabetes
Diabetes is the seventh biggest cause of death in the U.S. It can also increase the propensity to dying from a stroke or heart attack and can damage the body in many other ways. It is the primary cause of blindness in adults, amputation of a leg or kidney failure,...
Is that skin condition actually cancer?
Skin cancer is very common and, for most forms of it, very treatable when caught early. Treatment often entails simply cutting out the cancerous cells and then letting the body heal. In some cases, this can be done during a 30-minute visit to the dermatologist. The...
Can you sue over a hospital-acquired infection?
Are infections just “one of those things” that sometimes happen? Maybe, but hospital-acquired infections are often preventable and an indication that malpractice occurred. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas (MRSA) has been a long-standing problem inside many...
An inaccurate or missed diagnosis can haunt a patient for years
Accurately identifying a medical condition is one of the most important services that a doctor provides to their patients. Much of the training that physicians receive during medical school relates to the proper process for establishing a diagnosis when a patient...