Can You Sue a Doctor for a Traumatic Brain Injury?
According to studies, many people suffer brain injuries from road accidents, medical errors, and others. Some of these injuries result in disabilities or death, even though some people recover. Recovery after a brain injury is a long and expensive process with severe medical consequences, lost wages, financial expenses, and many more. Therefore, you must see compensation if your loved one has suffered a brain injury due to someone else’s fault. A brain injury can happen after medical malpractice. Therefore, you may need to sue the doctor for negligence, even though it is not always a simple process. It is best to speak with a traumatic brain injury lawyer to know the way forward and gather everything you need to prove medical malpractice. The following is the process of suing for brain injury after medical malpractice.
Traumatic Brain Injury and Medical Malpractice
You could file a TBI claim against a medical provider if the injury or degree of injury results from their negligence. Negligence means the medical provider failed to provide the same level of care that would be provided for another person in the same situation. It also means improper activities or omissions. Therefore, a claim may arise if the doctor fails to diagnose a brain injury. You can also sue them if their prescription resulted in neurological damage or if they administered anesthesia incorrectly. If the doctor performed unnecessary surgery, left an object in the body that caused the injury, or operated on the wrong part of the body, you can still sue them. In short, medical malpractice happens in diagnosis, treatment, and aftercare.
Notice of Claim to the Medical Provider
Medical malpractice claims have shorter statutes of limitations than other claims under personal injury. For example, you may have only six months or up to two years to file your claim. Therefore, be sure about the law in your state. Failure to file the claim or lawsuit against the doctor within the period allows automatically disqualifies you from getting compensation for the brain injury. Therefore, work with your lawyer to ensure you file the claim before the period expires.
However, you do not just go to court to sue the doctor for malpractice. First, you must inform them about your move to sue them for medical malpractice. After that, you can wait for a specific period before you are eligible to sue them. Remember, requirements differ with jurisdictions. Therefore, you need to consult your lawyer. Besides sending the notice to the doctor, you must also have a certificate from a qualified medical expert that confirms medical negligence. The expert will review your medical records to determine if the doctor’s actions caused harm.
You will need to prove negligence and that the doctor breached the duty of care they owed the patient. Therefore, if through the qualified expert, you can prove that the doctor was negligent and their negligence caused injuries and damages, you have met the legal standards that qualify you to file the claim.
Conclusion
A traumatic brain injury severely affects both the victim and the family. Therefore, if the injury resulted from medical malpractice, it is possible to sue the doctor for compensation. The compensation will help eliminate the financial burden of recovering after a brain injury and for the pain and suffering. Therefore, work with an experienced lawyer to ensure the doctor is accountable for their actions.