In the state of Washington, you can get excellent medical care. Most of the time the standard of care is met and no medical negligence is in evidence. You are happy and healthy. However, sometimes the standard of care isn’t met; negligence is evident. Drugs that were meant for someone else are administered, or too much of the medication that you need is administered. Unfortunately, it only takes one time of being neglected in a medical care facility to cause a malpractice suit to become a possibility.
The standard of care is not met when the health care provider fails to exercise the degree of care, skill and learning that you would expect from a reasonably prudent health care provider that another provider, acting in a similar circumstance would provide. It must be fully documented and provable that the cause of the injury you suffered is directly due to medical negligence.
It is necessary to be able to document the specifics of the failure, so getting a legal professional involved as early as possible is important. Having the right team on your side is vital.
One thing that you need to be aware of is that just because you are unhappy with the outcome of your procedure doesn’t necessarily mean that you suffered medical negligence. In other words, a poor result is not evidence of negligence. You may not be thrilled with the outcome of your surgery or medical treatment, but you need to understand that liability cannot automatically be imposed upon a doctor for an unfavorable or unforeseeable outcome that was not the result of negligence.
A knowledgeable attorney can assist enormously in determining whether you have a case or not. He or she will be able to tell you what your chances are if the case is brought to court..
Source: Washington Health Law Manual, “Medical Malpractice Laibility” accessed Mar. 03, 2015
