In order to win a Virginia Beach medical malpractice lawsuit, there are four things you must prove: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. The good news is that you don’t have to face these obstacles on your own; a skilled Virginia Beach medical malpractice lawyer from Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp can help you collect the evidence you need to protect your right to compensation.
These cases often require testimony from qualified medical experts who can explain how a provider failed to meet accepted standards of care. It’s also important to understand Virginia’s specific rules and filing deadlines for malpractice claims, which can affect the outcome of your case. In Virginia, most medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within two years of the date of injury, so acting quickly is essential. Call us today to schedule a free consultation.
What Does Duty of Care Mean?
The first element that must be proven in a Virginia Beach medical malpractice claim is that a physician or other medical professional owed you a duty of care. Those who care for patients have a legal obligation to uphold this duty by providing safe and competent care that meets current medical standards.
This means that you must prove that a doctor/patient relationship existed or that the medical professional in question was involved in your treatment and therefore had a legal duty to you. To achieve this, your attorney will submit strong evidence, including medical records showing which physicians approved your treatments.
Who Owes Patients a Duty of Care?
Anybody who is involved in your care, be it a nurse, a doctor, a hospital staff member, or a lab technician, owes you a duty of care. Based on how their action or inaction impacted your care and contributed to your illness or injury, you could have a valid medical malpractice claim against any or all of these individuals, as well as their employers.
What Is a Breach of Duty?
Dereliction of duty, also known as breach of duty, refers to an instance where someone who owed a duty of care failed to meet the medical standard of care. This doesn’t mean that nurses and other medical professionals are unable to make mistakes. Rather, it means they are expected to exercise good judgment and suggest medical treatments with their patients’ best interests at heart.
Even more importantly, they are obligated to adhere to the appropriate standard of medical care. This refers to the procedures and practices that a reasonable medical professional in that same geographical location and specialty would abide by in the same or similar circumstances. To successfully prove the standard of care and a breach thereof in a medical malpractice suit, expert testimony is typically needed.
What Are Some Common Examples of Breach of Duty?
In Virginia Beach medical malpractice cases, breaches of duty can come in multiple forms. Common examples of dereliction of duty include:
- Failing to order essential diagnostic tests, like X-rays, bloodwork, biopsies, or CT scans
- Misinterpreting test results
- Providing inaccurate or delayed diagnoses due to a failure to follow up on worrying symptoms
- Prescribing the incorrect dosage or drug to a patient
- Surgical errors, including operating on the incorrect part of the body or leaving surgical tools inside a patient
- Failing to appropriately supervise a patient’s condition or dismissing worsening vital signs or symptoms.
- Prescribing medicines or performing medical procedures without clarifying the potential risks to the patient
What Is Causation?
One of the more difficult elements to establish in a Virginia Beach medical malpractice claim is causation. It is not enough to simply prove that a medical professional made an error. You also need to show that their actions fell below the benchmark of what another provider with similar experience and training in the same situation would have done, and this failure led directly to your injuries.
What Are Some Common Examples of Causation?
Common examples of causation in Virginia Beach medical malpractice cases include:
- Incorrect diagnoses: When a doctor misdiagnoses a patient’s symptoms as a different condition, they may order counterproductive or ineffectual treatments, thereby worsening the patient’s condition.
- Delayed diagnoses: Delayed diagnoses can result in the worsening of a patient’s symptoms or give rise to symptoms that would otherwise not have occurred.
- Misinterpreting imaging tests: MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, and other forms of imaging tests supply doctors with critical information about their patients’ conditions. Doctors, however, have to read these tests accurately. If the test results are misread, doctors may overlook vital warning signs of dangerous illnesses or injuries or order inefficient treatments.
- Prescription errors: Prescribing the incorrect medicine or dosage can result in harmful and even potentially lethal drug interactions. Patients who are prescribed the wrong drug or improper dosage can also experience an increase in the number and severity of their symptoms, since they are receiving improper or unnecessary medical treatment.
- Failure to monitor: Nurses and doctors are expected to closely monitor the condition of their patients, especially during and after an operation. When a medical professional fails to monitor a patient properly, they can easily overlook symptoms of potentially deadly complications.
- Surgical errors: Surgical instruments left inside patients, surgeries performed on the wrong part of the body, and other similar mistakes can result in serious, life-threatening infections and numerous other complications.
How Long Do I Have to File a Virginia Medical Malpractice Lawsuit?
According to state law, victims generally have two years from the day their injury occurred to bring a lawsuit for medical negligence. The laws for some medical malpractice cases, however, are somewhat different. For instance, cases that involve a foreign object left in the patient’s body are subject to a deadline of one year from when they discovered or reasonably should have discovered the retained object. In the event that a medical professional attempts to conceal their fraudulent or negligent actions, victims may have additional time to file.
All We Do Is Injury Law
The first step to take in any medical malpractice case is to seek experienced legal representation. The knowledgeable Virginia Beach medical malpractice lawyers at Shapiro, Washburn & Sharp have more than ten decades of combined experience and know the most effective methods of gathering powerful evidence that supports your injury claim, dealing with insurance companies, and protecting your right to financial compensation.
Because medical misdiagnosis claims can be complex and life-altering, it’s crucial to work with a medical malpractice lawyer who has proven experience handling these cases. Our firm has successfully done so, including securing a verdict of $2.23 million for the family of a woman who tragically passed away after a delayed diagnosis of hospital sepsis.
If you or a loved one suspects that you have fallen prey to an act of medical negligence, call our Virginia Beach personal injury firm at (833) 997-1774 or fill out the quick contact form on our website to schedule your free case review with one of our trusted lawyers. Our offices are located in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Hampton.
