If you or someone you love has recently been injured by a medical doctor, nurse, dentist, surgeon, or other healthcare provider, you may be wondering if you have the ability to file a lawsuit against the negligent party. Whenever a health care professional delivers substandard care and their negligence harms a patient, causing injuries, the injured party should explore filing a medical malpractice claim, a breed of personal injury lawsuit.
But what is “medical malpractice”? The American Bar Association defines medical malpractice as” negligence committed by a professional health care provider – a doctor, nurse, dentist, technician, hospital or hospital worker – whose performance of duties departs from a standard of practice of those with similar training and experience, resulting in harm to a patient or patients.”
Think You Have a Medical Malpractice Claim?
If you believe you have a medical malpractice claim, contact an attorney from our firm. As personal injury lawyers, we specialize in these types of cases. Tell us exactly what happened to you, from your first doctor’s visit through your last contact with them. These are the types of questions we’ll have for you:
- What happened when you were injured?
- What did your doctor do to treat your injury?
- What did your doctor say about your treatment?
- Did you follow your doctor’s orders?
- What happened to you after the date of injury?
Your answers to the above questions will be relevant, especially if you think you’re a victim of medical malpractice. As with other personal injury claims, your case will either be settled out of court or it will go to trial. If it goes to trial, the trial will be probably be before a jury, but there’s still a good possibility it will settle before the jury reaches a verdict.
All states impose a deadline or “statute of limitations” for filing medical malpractice lawsuits. In South Carolina, you have three years from the date of the injury to file a claim under Section 15-3-545 of the South Carolina Code of Laws.
To learn more about filing a medical malpractice claim, contact the Law Office of James R. Snell, Jr., LLC.