The last thing you expect when you undergo a medical procedure is to end up with brain damage. However, this is a tragic outcome for countless patients. When medical care results in brain damage, a brain injury lawyer may be able to help you recover compensation.
Insurance companies don’t hand out brain injury compensation without a fight. If you’re hoping to recover compensation for a brain injury caused by a medical error, your brain injury lawyer first needs to go through the complicated process of proving medical negligence.
Understanding Medical Malpractice
Personal injury law allows you to recover compensation when another person’s negligence causes injury. When the person who causes the injury is a healthcare provider, you have a medical malpractice case.
Healthcare providers are held to a higher standard of care when it comes to proving negligence. This means it isn’t enough to simply prove they caused the injury. Instead, your brain injury lawyer needs to prove that the medical care you received involved obvious errors or oversights that shouldn’t have happened.
Once your lawyer proves this, you have grounds for a medical malpractice claim. This allows you to file a claim (or, if necessary, a lawsuit) with the doctor’s insurance provider. A successful medical malpractice claim can compensate you for things like medical expenses, attendant care costs, and lost wages and benefits.
Common Medical Errors That Lead to Brain Injury
Experiencing a brain injury is the last thing most people think of before they undergo a medical procedure. As a result, you might think this is a rare or unusual outcome. However, the reality is that there are countless ways in which medical treatment can cause brain damage.
Some of the many possible ways medical error can result in brain injury include:
- Anesthesia errors
- Medication errors
- Surgical errors
- Failure to diagnose
- Birth injuries
- Excessive bleeding that causes oxygen deprivation
The reasons for brain injury are often unique to the individual’s health. For example, failure to diagnose an injury or health condition is a common medical error that can lead to a host of serious or even fatal health conditions.
However, failure to diagnose is most likely to result in brain injury when a treatment team fails to identify or promptly treat health conditions like heart attack, stroke, brain bleed, hypotension, or tracheal compression.
Proving that brain damage is the result of medical negligence can be a complex process that requires specialized medical knowledge.
How a Brain Injury Lawyer Proves Medical Negligence
If you or a loved one has experienced brain damage and you believe the injury was caused by medical malpractice, you need to consult a brain injury lawyer as soon as possible.
When you attend your initial consultation, bringing as much documentation as possible about the injury is a good idea. Your lawyer needs to assess the extent of your injuries and the medical treatment you received that led to them.
If your lawyer thinks you have a case, they’ll thoroughly investigate. They’ll need to collect various documents, including your medical records, treatment notes, test results, and medical bills. They’ll work to build a case proving why the doctor’s actions should be considered an instance of medical negligence.
Working With a Medical Expert Witness
Medical malpractice cases typically need the testimony of a medical expert witness to move forward. This individual must be a medical professional who can assess whether the doctors’ actions were appropriate given factors like your health history, medications, and other information about your health.
Once your lawyer has obtained the sworn testimony of a medical expert witness, they can file a claim with the doctor’s insurance company and begin negotiating a settlement.
Successfully proving medical malpractice is a complex process. However, it’s often the only option when it comes to obtaining the brain injury compensation you need. This is especially true when a brain injury is severe.
The long-term costs of caring for a person with a brain injury often reach six or seven figures. Brain injury compensation helps ensure your family doesn’t struggle financially because of medical negligence.
Get Help From a Brain Injury Lawyer Today
You should never wait to speak with a lawyer about obtaining compensation for a brain injury caused by medical malpractice. The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq. can help if you’re ready to learn more about your financial options.
Dr. Bradley Kramer is both a brain injury lawyer and a medical doctor. His medical knowledge allows him to craft winning arguments for clients injured through medical malpractice.
Contact The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq. to schedule a free consultation with a Los Angeles brain injury lawyer today.