HAVE YOU SUFFERED A Medical Injury?
The standard of medical practice in Australia is very high. However, sometimes things go wrong, and errors are made. Here are some common examples of medical negligence and malpractice.
Errors made during surgery
Surgeons and anaesthetists are among the most highly qualified and skilled medical practitioners. However, every surgery carries a risk of complications or something unexpected happening. The question is whether it was avoidable.
Common Surgical Errors
- Leaving equipment inside a patient
- Operating on the wrong body part
- Infection that could have been avoided
- Failure to provide adequate post-operative care
- Failure to carry out a surgical procedure fully (e.g. the partial removal of a tumour)
- Unnecessary disfigurement or nerve damage caused during the surgery, for example, during cosmetic surgery
- Damage was done to another part of the body that was not involved in the surgery.
Common Anaesthesia Errors
- Administering the incorrect dose of anaesthetic
- Injecting anaesthetic into a nerve that causes nerve damage or paralysis
- Failure to monitor blood pressure and oxygen levels while the patient is anaesthetised can result in brain damage, stroke or other complications.
Hospital Negligence
When a patient has a health issue and visits a public or private hospital, they can expect a reasonable standard of service or treatment. Some examples of hospital negligence include:
- Failure to take a proper patient history
- Failure to make a diagnosis within a reasonable period
- Failure to make referrals for treatment to medical specialists
- Surgical errors
- Poor post-operative care
Errors with prescriptions and administration of medication
Taking the wrong medication or an incorrect dose can have severe and long-term consequences. Not only can it cause an injury directly, but it can delay the correct treatment of a person’s illness. If a medication error occurs due to a wrong prescription or administration by a practitioner, it may be the basis of a medical negligence claim. Medication errors may include:
- A doctor making a mistake with the name of a medication
- A doctor making an incorrect diagnosis, leading to a mistaken prescription
- A nurse or pharmacist fails to understand the doctor’s prescription or directions
- A mislabelled drug.
For a free assessment of whether your circumstances qualify for medical negligence or malpractice, speak to the Medical Negligence Law experts at Carbone Lawyers.
Medical Injury FAQs
How injured do I need to be to claim for medical negligence injuries?
While pain or suffering claims in Victoria require the injured party to be assessed by a medical practitioner as having or exceeding a certain level of permanent impairment, claims can be made for loss of earnings, costs of care, and other out-of-pocket expenses in some instances even where this threshold isn’t met.
Can I claim compensation if I’m the victim of a close call?
Close calls in medicine are circumstances where an adverse event nearly occurs but through either intervention or other circumstances is averted, such as where a surgeon makes a mistake while operating but rectifies it immediately and prevents harm. Though these instances can be extremely distressing, they generally don’t provide sufficient grounds for a medical negligence claim, as you need to prove in your claim that you suffered injury and damages as a result of their negligence.
How long do medical negligence injury claims take?
According to a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, for public sector claims, the average opening time for a claim was close to two years from the date of the alleged healthcare incident and claims were most often closed between 3 and 4 years from the date of the incident.
Do I need a lawyer for a medical injury claim?
Medical negligence claims can be some of the most complicated personal injury cases both from an evidence collection and negotiation standpoint, with cases often taking multiple years of back and forth between parties. Thankfully, the dedicated team at Carbone Lawyers specialise in all aspects of personal injury cases, operating on a no-win, no-fee basis so most personal injury cases have no upfront fees, and you can benefit from legal expertise without the extreme financial burden.
What should I do if I was misprescribed?
If you believe you have been misprescribed, you should first seek medical advice urgently to avoid taking or missing medication dangerously. After you’ve ensured your immediate health, you can begin to determine whether the error constitutes medical negligence by contacting Carbone Lawyers for a free claim assessment. Remember, for a successful medical negligence claim, the medical practitioner must have not exercised the expected skill or care of someone in their position and this must have caused harm or injury beyond the underlying condition you were being treated for.
