Nobody wants to hear their doctor say that they are sick. It’s one thing if you have a minor illness. You may even be able to deal with the news that you need surgery. But when you hear that you have cancer, you may feel like your life is over. If you get the news early enough, they may be able to treat your illness. In fact, for some types of cancer, if you get the diagnosis early enough, there could be a good chance that you’ll make a full recovery. For other types of cancer, however, timing is key. Every day and week matters. If your doctor fails to diagnose your illness in time, it could mean the difference between life and death.

Doctors are not perfect. They are human beings, after all. And, human beings make mistakes. The difference is that, when a doctor makes a mistake, their patient could get very sick or even die. That’s why they’re held to a certain standard when it comes to making mistakes. Your doctor is supposed to be an expert at what they do. If they don’t take the necessary steps to examine you, it could be very costly.

If you’ve learned that you or your loved one are sick, you’re going to have your hands full. You’ll be going to doctor’s appointments and getting treatment. You’ll likely be out of work and unable to handle stressful situations. That’s when you know it’s time to call an experienced personal injury lawyer in Lake Charles. They’ll review your case and see if your doctor was negligent. And, if they were, they’ll fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

How Do You Prove That Your Doctor Was Negligent?

Most personal injury cases require that you prove negligence. In order to do this, your Lake Charles personal injury attorney will have to demonstrate four (4) things:

• Your doctor owed you a duty of care – This is not going to be hard to prove. Every doctor owes their patients a certain level of duty. They not only took the Hippocratic oath, but their job requires them to do the right thing. This duty would include that they run the necessary tests to determine your illness.
• They breached this duty of care – This is the difficult part of your case. Your Lake Charles injury lawyer needs to be able to prove that the doctor breached their duty of care. This could include anything from your doctor not running the proper tests to refusing to take your calls.
• You were injured – If you’re diagnosed with cancer, then it is clear you have suffered an injury. The questions will be whether this injury was caused by the doctor’s breach of duty.
• Your injuries were caused by your doctor’s breach – If you were diagnosed with cancer, your doctor’s attorney will argue that this would’ve happened no matter what your doctor did. Your Lake Charles personal injury lawyer will argue that you would’ve been able to treat your illness faster had your doctor done their job.

If your attorney is able to prove all four of these things, you may be entitled to damages. The question will come down to this: would your prognosis have been better had your doctor honored their duty of care. If the answer is yes, then you should have a strong case. If, however, the court finds that you would’ve been in the same position, health-wise, no matter what the doctor did, you may not be eligible for damages.

Call and Talk to One of Our Experienced Personal Injury Attorneys in Lake Charles

If your loved one was misdiagnosed with a serious illness, you need to call our office right away. Your doctor has a duty to examine you and find out if you are sick. If they fail to do this, you may have a claim for damages. The only way to know for sure is to call and talk to an experienced personal injury lawyer in Lake Charles, Louisiana. They can review your case and determine if your doctor may be liable for damages.

Call today and schedule your free initial consultation. You can have an experienced injury lawyer in Louisiana determine if your case is strong enough to pursue. If it is, they can even give you an idea of what your case may be worth. The consultation is free and you don’t have to pay until your case is resolved.

When people get sick, they like to know that they can go to their doctor and get better. Even if the doctor cannot make the problem go away, it’s reassuring to find out what’s wrong with you. If you are sick, you should be able to trust that your doctor will come up with a treatment plan. This is why it’s so frustrating to find out about a misdiagnosis, especially with something as serious as cancer.

One of the scariest things you may ever have to deal with is finding out you have cancer. When people hear this word, they assume the worst. Because so many people diagnosed with this disease do eventually pass away from their illness, this can be very scary. When it comes to treatment, each day matters. If your disease is not caught right away, you may not get the treatment you need. And, when your doctor fails to diagnose your illness, it can make things much more difficult. This is why personal injury lawyers in Lake Charles work hard to get their clients the compensation they deserve. A cancer misdiagnosis can be the difference between life and death. Aside from a wrongful death claim, there really are no cases that are more important. So, if your loved one has been diagnosed with cancer late as a result of their doctor, you should call our office right away. Let our personal injury attorneys review your case and see if you have a potential case against your doctor.

How Often Does Cancer Misdiagnosis Happen?

When people hear that someone’s cancer was not diagnosed properly, they seem shocked. They don’t realize that more than 10 million people a year are improperly diagnosed. While not all of these patients have cancer, a good number of them do. And, there are other serious illnesses out there. Whenever you’re sick with any serious medical condition, treatment is critical. If you don’t start treatment right away, you may not survive. This is especially true with cancer. This is why it is so important that your doctor catch your diagnosis the first time around.

Just because your doctor didn’t catch your illness when they first met with you, that doesn’t mean they won’t diagnose it properly later. The problem is, this could mean the difference between you surviving and your passing away. Or, it may mean the difference between treatment and being permanently disabled the rest of your life. Your Lake Charles personal injury attorney will hold your doctor accountable for this.

Will Their Medical Malpractice Insurance Cover Your Damages?

It’s impossible for anyone to guarantee that your doctor’s insurance will cover your damages. It would be unfair for us to try to do that here. However, as long as there were no very unique circumstances, there is a good chance that your claim will be covered. Medical malpractice insurance companies understand that malpractice victims make good plaintiffs. This is especially true for someone who is battling cancer. If a jury learns that someone died because their doctor made a mistake, they are going to want the doctor to pay. It may be in the insurance company’s best interest to settle your case and to settle it fast. Your Lake Charles injury lawyer knows this. They will use this to your advantage to get you as much money as possible.

Talk to an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer in Lake Charles Right Away

If you’re battling cancer, the last thing you need to be dealing with are lawyers and insurance adjusters. You are going to need to focus on your treatment plan. This is why It’s so important that you call and talk to an experienced personal injury lawyer right away. They’ll deal with the doctor’s insurance company and their attorneys. This way, you can focus on getting better. Fighting cancer can be a full-time job. You will not have time for distractions. And, if your doctor failed to diagnose your cancer, they need to be held accountable.

Call today and schedule an initial consultation with our office. Sit down with someone who has handled cases like this before. They’ll give you an idea of what you’ll come up against in your case. They can also give you an idea of what your case might be worth. Let the negotiate with the doctor’s malpractice insurance company. They’ll work hard to get you the money you deserve. And, since the initial consultation is free, you have nothing to lose.

When a patient suffers with disfigurement, there are stages of loss he or she goes through. It’s impossible for any patient to suffer such a severe injury without having to go through some realization of loss. The injury affects appearance, and that can change a person’s entire life.

When a person is suffering following disfigurement, there could be signs of mental anguish, depression or other concerns. As the loved one of someone trying to understand life with a disfigurement, there are a few things you should know.

1. The stages of loss: Defined but not linear

While you can recognize the stages of loss, don’t think that they’re linear. The stages, denial and isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, can happen multiple times and in any order. For instance, your child could suffer an injury to the face that leaves scarring. He or she may be angry or depressed at first. Several months later, your child may struggle with isolation. Other days, he or she may act as if he’s accepted the injury as it is.

2. Environmental factors play a role in acceptance

If a person who suffers a severe injury and disfigurement returns to work and faces scrutiny, it’s likely that the psychological healing that needs to take place won’t for some time. Comparatively, someone who is accepted with open arms and treated normally may feel more relaxed about the condition, even though unhappy with his or her appearance. The way families, friends and others react is important, so families can help by treating the individual as normally as possible.

Disfigurements are sometimes able to be altered through plastic surgeries, with the use of makeup or other treatments. If there was an accident that caused the disfigurement, the party responsible should be held liable, so the patient has access to all the necessary medical treatments available.

A woman living in New Orleans has filed a lawsuit claiming that the health care facility where she lives is not, in fact, qualified to operate as a health care provider according to the stipulations of the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act. Her suit alleges that the facility and its staff are guilty of negligence in their medical care, following a painful incident that occurred last summer.

The plaintiff claims that in June of 2016, she was residing in the facility when her caretaker did not use proper care, which resulted in a series injury. According to the suit, a nurse aide did not use proper care while rolling the woman over from her back to her stomach, resulting in the woman falling off the bed and suffering a number of injuries.

Any time that a person involved in an accident or undergoes a medical procedure that results in scarring or disfigurement, the real-life impact can be devastating. Regardless of the circumstances that lead to the disfigurement, it is difficult to simply wake up and feel grateful to be alive if you don’t feel like you are yourself anymore. In many cases, it may be appropriate to consider an injury claim to pursue damages for the disfigurement. In many cases, if the disfigurement occurred because of another party’s negligence, especially because of a medical procedure, then there may be a legitimate case to pursue.

If the disfigurement occurred subsequent to a medical procedure, then it is reasonable that a victim may be able to sue for the scarring or disfigurement, provided that he or she can reasonably assert that they did not anticipate the disfigurement as part of the outcome, or that the scar is particularly unsightly enough to meet the court’s standards of disfigurement.

Many medical disfigurement cases revolve around patients who survive surgery but suffer significant scarring. There are a number of factors that may contribute to a disfigurement case arising from a surgery. Was the patient made aware of the risks of significant scarring? Was the procedure avoidable in some way, or was it necessary? Furthermore, is the scarring out of the ordinary, considering the typical effects of the procedure in question?

If you believe that you may have suffered unfair, preventable or avoidable disfigurement from a medical procedure, there is no reason to assume that nothing can be done about it. You deserve to have your case professionally evaluated by an experienced attorney who can help you examine the nuances of both the law and your circumstances. With appropriate legal guidance, you can confidently pursue justice for a medical malpractice claim while keeping your rights protected.

When we seek medical care and are not healed or suffer further harm, it is easy to believe that something wrong has happened, and that someone must be responsible. In many cases, there were factors beyond the control of a medical provider that complicated treatment. However, in some cases, there has been a failure somewhere along the line of care, and it is reasonable to hold someone responsible for your injury through a medical malpractice claim. The trouble is, it is not always easy to know when medical malpractice has actually occurred.

If you suspect that you are the victim of medical malpractice, you owe it to yourself to follow thorough on that suspicion. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. Medical care is a complex area, with many different providers interacting to give you the care you need. This means that an injury may have many potentially liable parties.

Depending on the nature of your injury, the fault may lie with the doctor who treated you or the nurses who attended to you. A pharmacy may have made an error that lead to harmful complications or the issue may have been with the hospital itself. Your injury may even have been caused by faulty medical equipment.

Because each case is different, it is crucial to have your case professionally evaluated by an attorney with years of experience in understanding the nuances of medical malpractice suits. In-depth knowledge of how the legal system approaches medical malpractice allows an experienced attorney to identify elements in your situation that may constitute malpractice, and how best to pursue fair compensation. With experienced legal counsel, you can explore your options for recovery with the assurance that your rights will be protected throughout the process.

Some of the most common and heartbreaking kinds of injuries that can arise from medical malpractice are birth injuries. Understandably, birth injuries can be devastating for new parents, who face a whole new host of challenges to care for and raise a child who has been injured either temporarily or permanently by subpar medical care.

It is important for all parents ad concerned parties to understand the difference between a birth injury and a birth defect. A birth injury is generally some form of harm that is suffered by an infant because of a failure on the part of medical personnel to provide the correct care during childbirth. This may mean that a doctor was negligent in his or her procedures or failed to respond properly to complications in the delivery when they arose. In contrast, a birth defect refers to some issue that occurred before birth took place, somewhere in the course of the pregnancy.

A birth defect may still be the responsibility of your care provider, depending on the circumstances. It is possible that your child has suffered injury because of improper prenatal care. For instance, there are many kinds of medications that have been demonstrated to cause birth defects, and some of these medications were actually brought to the market specifically for expecting mothers. If, for instance, your prenatal care provider compelled you to use a medication that was damaging to your child, then you might successfully pursue damages from them.

Each instance of injury to an infant is different and must be pursued carefully and knowledgeably. If you believe that your child has suffered from harmful care, either during pregnancy or in the birthing process, then you should not hesitate to seek help in fighting for justice. With the guidance of an experienced attorney, you can evaluate your experience and create a plan to pursue justice while ensuring that your rights remain protected.

Like it or not, the reality of modern medicine is that it is only as good as the people practicing it and the care they give to following proper procedures for patient care. For every doctor, nurse or EMT who cares deeply about being professional and giving the best available care to their patients, there are some who are simply there to collect a paycheck.

Even among those who are well-intentioned, the demanding hours of the occupation can compromise decision-making by medical personnel. Regardless of where and how the breakdown in care occurs, medical mistakes can cost lives. If you have lost a loved one, or seen them suffer greatly at the hands of medical malpractice, you deserve to be compensated for this pain and loss.

A Louisiana woman who experienced just such a loss has filed suit against a doctor and healthcare provider after her father passed away, allegedly after poor medical care lead to his death while being treated for a urinary tract infection. According to the suit, the man was admitted to the care for the infection, but that the attendant doctor issued an order for a variety of antibiotics that were not effective against the particular infection that the man suffered.

Medical malpractice is far more common that one might think. The loss of a loved one can, of course, never be undone by any sum of money, but a fair settlement is one of the few forms of judgement that can be sought. For those who have suffered medical malpractice, or lost loved ones because of it, an experienced malpractice attorney can help you evaluate your case and explore the full scope of options you have to pursue justice.

Scars are a natural result of many surgeries, and there’s often little or nothing that can be done to avoid them. Doctors and medical technology in the United States are better than ever, but skin doesn’t always heal perfectly. You may have to deal with scars for the rest of your life.

If you know about this up front, you have time to make your peace with it. In some cases, you may even be able to decide that you don’t want to have the procedure done if the scarring is going to be significant. You may want to look into other options. Even if there is nothing else to be done, you at least know what you’ll be dealing with when you go in for the procedure.

But what if you were never warned about the scarring in the first place? What if you thought everything was going to heal and look exactly like it did before, and now you’re stuck with scars that are impossible to erase, feeling permanently disfigured? They can change your appearance forever, and, especially if they’re on your face or other highly visible areas, they can have a big impact on your confidence and self-esteem.

If you really were never warned, you may be able to sue for compensation. Of course, there are situations in which doctors have no choice — if you were unconscious and rushed to the emergency room after a car accident, for example — but if you were scarred in scheduled procedure that you were led to believe wouldn’t change your appearance, you may be owned compensation for the impact it can have on your life going forward. Be sure you know what legal steps to take. Our Lake Charles medical malpractice lawyers can help.

When we enter the hospital to undergo a procedure or receive care for a medical emergency, the last thing on our minds is that our patient identity could somehow be confused with another person. That’s largely because our attention is focused on our health, and also because we assume a general level of competency, such that this type of medical error would seem inconceivable.

According to a recently released study from the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing patient safety, patient identification errors at medical centers are actually occurring with alarming regularity, sometimes with deadly results.

As part of the study, ECRI researchers examined 7,613 “wrong-patient error” cases that occurred at 181 medical centers across the nation from January 2013 to July 2015.

After examining these cases, which the researchers indicated likely represent only a small percentage of the total number, it was found that 91 percent of the patient mistakes were uncovered prior to patients suffering any harm. However, two were fatal and several other resulted in serious patient harm, including an infant who was given breast milk from the wrong mother and contracted hepatitis as a result.

Breaking the numbers downs further, the researchers discovered more about when these types of errors occur:

• Over 33 percent involved diagnostic tests (lab work, x-rays, etc.)
• 22 percent involved procedures and treatments
• 13 percent involved patient registration

As far as rectifying the problem, the ECRI researchers recommended that medical centers consider implementing the following steps:

• Introducing both standardized protocols for verifying patient identities and a culture whereby talking about wrong-patient errors in order to learn is acceptable
• Implementing uniform standards for how patient names are displayed in electronic health records and including pictures
• Changing culture such that medical professionals no longer refer to patients by bed numbers or rooms, and ask them to state their name
• Extending surgical “time-outs” to all invasive procedures
• Expanding bar code verification systems to cover procedures, x-rays, lab tests, etc.

Here’s hoping medical centers implement these suggestions and that wrong-patient error cases become a distant memory in the healthcare setting.

If you’ve been seriously injured or lost a loved one due to what you believe was medical malpractice, consider speaking with an experienced legal professional to learn more about your options.