Published On: Wed, Jun 13th, 2018

Medical Complication Claims: 5 Things to Know Before You File a Claim

Medical complications can indicate a doctor’s mistake in your medical care,or their failure to follow the patient’s safety guidelines. If you feel you received inadequate care after surgery that resulted in post complications and side effects that were not treated immediately, you need to file a claim for compensation. Here are five essential pointers you can consider before filling a medical claim.

complication medical definitionBreach of Duty

Before you proceed with a medical negligence claim, you may want to find out whether the injury was caused by the doctor’s failure to honor their duty of care or whether it was caused by faulty equipment. Learn about the complications that might have been expected or any suffering and pain that would have been inevitable. You will prevail in a potential claim if you can prove that the extra suffering and pain was caused by negligence. For example, although the blood clot filter is a safe medical tool, serious complications like device breakage and perforation of tissues and the vein may occur from its usage. In such instances, malfunctioned gadgets may mean the manufacturer was negligent in producing quality tools for medical use and may end up being liable for the breach of duty of care.

Eligibility For Claim Compensation

You’ll need to seek alternative medical assessment from another physician to as certain if your claim has merit. A review of your hospital records should show that the previous medical professional or surgical device used by your surgeon strayed from acknowledged medical practices,thus resulting to your injuries. In addition, inquire about the period of time you have to file the claim legally. In most cases, the statute of limitation is three years, so you need to find out whether your case is still within this limit.

Amount of Settlement in Place

Once you have received confirmation about your eligibility, it’s necessary to calculate the expected settlement. These will depend on your medical bills, the severity of your complications, your pain and suffering, as well as the possibility of recurrent surgeries.

Records of Financial Losses

You need to demonstrate that you’ve suffered actual quantifiable financial losses before making a compensation claim. An attorney will need data of actual financial losses when calculating how much compensation you are eligible for. This may be in the form of lost hours, medical expenses, or money used to acquire new assets (e.g., if your car was wrecked in an accident).

Attorney Experience

Finally, make sure the attorney you are looking for has adequate experience in handling similar cases. The attorney should have the access to your medical records to determine whether or not you have a valid claim. This means you have to sign a HIPAA form allowing your attorney to obtain your records before accessing your case.

Even when injured as a result of a medical malpractice, you need to ensure you seek legal advice so you can get the right compensation for your case. The best way to ensuring you get well-compensated is to have the right lawyers on your side.