Each year, hundreds of thousands of people die from medical malpractice, with a significant portion of these deaths occurring in our nation's hospitals. Since so many American lives are touched by medical malpractice injuries and fatalities, each state has wrongful death and medical malpractice laws that enable surviving family members to seek compensation from the negligent healthcare providers.

What is medical malpractice exactly? It refers to substandard medical care that causes undue harm to a patient. In other words, the patient was not only injured by a doctor or other healthcare provider, their injury or death was preventable.

Different Types of Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is an umbrella term that can apply to family physicians, oncologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Some of the most common forms of medical malpractice, include:

• Surgical errors
• Anesthesia errors
• Dental malpractice
• Birth injuries
• Wrong diagnoses
• Misdiagnoses
• Emergency room malpractice

Medical Malpractice Fatalities

Have you ever heard of someone going into surgery for an elective procedure, such as a breast augmentation only to die on the operating table? Unfortunately, these types of tragic stories are not unheard of and they happen regularly.

Each year, patients die on the operating table because of medical negligence. Often, these untimely deaths can be traced back to anesthesia errors (e.g. too much anesthesia), and surgical mistakes, some of which are caused by a lack of surgical experience, a fatigued surgeon, or even utter carelessness on behalf of the operating surgeon.

When a patient dies on the operating table due to medical malpractice, their surviving family members may file a wrongful death claim. In addition to a wrongful death claim, another legal remedy is available and it's called a survivor claim. Survivors' claims are filed by the executor or personal representative of the decedent's estate on behalf of the decedent's heirs, such as their spouse and children.

If you believe that you were caused undue harm by a negligent medical professional, contact a medical malpractice attorney for legal advice!