Representing Parents In Pediatric Malpractice Claims
Malpractice in any situation can be scary, but when it happens to your children, the trauma of the situation can be greatly increased. At Moraitakis & Kushel, LLP, our attorneys understand that your children are the most important thing to you and that watching them suffer can be unbearable.
Malpractice can occur in the form of failure to diagnose, improper treatment, failure to warn of known risks, failure to monitor the patient, medication errors, surgical errors and anesthesia mistakes. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, meningitis and appendicitis are the most common conditions to either go undiagnosed or be misdiagnosed in children.
Common Pediatric Malpractice Injuries
The results of pediatric malpractice are the worst part, and knowing that your child’s suffering could have been avoided makes it that much harder. Some of the most common injuries resulting from pediatric malpractice include:
• Brain injury
• Hemorrhaging
• Organ damage
• Bacterial infections
Special care needs to be taken by parents to identify signs of pediatric medical malpractice, especially considering that children do not communicate as well as adults. Surgical errors are probably the easiest to spot and can result in both hemorrhaging and organ damage if something is accidentally cut during the procedure.
Hidden Injuries Resulting From Surgery
However, damage done during surgery isn’t always outwardly physical. Occasionally, infections can spread or be introduced during surgery if the surgeon’s tools aren’t properly cleaned. Medication errors often result from incorrect dosage or incorrect medications entirely. This can result in unintended side effects, overdose, brain damage and organ damage.
Sometimes, an injury can be caused by simply not doing anything. Assuming that an illness or injury isn’t as serious as it actually is and not treating it or believing that it is something else can cause it to spread and worsen.
Appendicitis is frequently misdiagnosed in female children because it displays similar symptoms to urinary tract infections and pelvic inflammatory disease. Misdiagnosing appendicitis can allow the infection to worsen and the appendix to burst, potentially causing an abscess or sepsis.
Failing To Meet A Standard Of Care
In order for any sort of malpractice claim to be worth anything, something called “standard of care” must have been violated by the treating physician. When a claim of medical malpractice is filed, experts are called in on both sides to testify that the doctor did or did not act skillfully and carefully in the way that another doctor would have in the same situation.
Even if it is obvious that the doctor performed below the expected standards of their field of care, the patient cannot sue for malpractice if they did not suffer any harm. It must also be proven that the actions of the doctor led directly to injury-specific damages, such as mental or physical pain, or unnecessary medical bills. It is our lawyers’ responsibility at Moraitakis & Kushel, LLP, to prove that the physician’s negligence resulted in your child’s pain.
Contact Our Firm
If you wish to pursue pediatric medical malpractice litigation, call Moraitakis & Kushel, LLP, at 404-973-0341 or fill out our online contact form.