The Wrecking Ball of Lost Chance of Survival

Medical malpractice can manifest itself in many forms and doctors can be found negligent in a variety of ways. Wrong death suits are common medical malpractice lawsuits claiming in principle that the patient lost a chance of survival do to doctor error. The medical profession is one profession, out of few, where error is not tolerated do to the legal ramifications let alone causing what can be considered a wrongful death. Survival of the patient in these cases is jeopardized and lost for what usually is a failure to diagnose, but there can be other cases that jeopardize a patients survival that occur in a surgical room.

Failure to diagnosis and wrongful death go hand in hand. Many people forgot that doctors are human, can make mistakes, and interpret an illness incorrectly. Malpractice lawsuits have been on the rise concerning wrongful death as the families of the recently deceased hold the doctor directly account for his or her death. Sometimes the failure to diagnosis a disease is due to negligent behavior by the doctor but other times this may not be the case. Wrongful death lawsuits are settled both in and out of court. Even if the doctor believes he is in the right, making and honest mistake on what can be a confusing illness at times, would up to settle out of court because of the negative stigma that comes with a wrongful death suit.

The lost chance of survival is also very emotional for the family because in these instances survival could have easily happened if the diagnosis was different, correct. Malpractice lawyers need to argue the distinction, in these cases, between willful negligence and natural human error. Many times the family of the person who lost a chance of survival does not seek the distinction.

The courts d, however, as if every doctor was held accountable for a mistake there would not be many doctors left in the country or would there be people wanting to become doctors because of the greatly increased liability. However, the question of negligence in these cases can be hard to prove directly. The doctor’s medical opinion is actually under question and not a medical physical action that took place. These cases are much easier to define negligence in as there can be physical prove.

For lost chance of survival cases expert testimony is used by both sides and the referencing of journal as well. This goes to establish whether or not the doctor acted within the reasonable scope of the dominate medical profession. Some illnesses can mask their appearance as lesser problems. One recent example has been the H1N1 virus that spread throughout the country. In some cases it appears as just a common cold while in other cases there is direct noticeable flu like symptoms.

It becomes difficult for doctors encountering the H1N1 virus as there are not many indicators toward the severity of the virus in the patient. The common cold or the flu like symptoms cases both can cause deaths. However, this many not be enough to constitute a wrongful death suit as the doctor worked to the best of his ability to diagnose the case.

Usually wrongful death suits blur the line of proper medical action, what can be defined as good medical opinion, the emotional element from both involved parties, and the need for the courts to attempt to gather facts out of all these variables. It can be difficult at times since not all illnesses are the same or are all doctors top of their class as well. Natural human error can occur just like in any other profession, yet in the medical profession it can jeopardize a life.

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