QUESTION
Is it malpractice when a doctor fails to perform the surgery properly, and also causes more damage? or is this personal injury?
Asked on Nov 30th, 2011 on Medical Malpractice - California
More details to this question:
My 4 y/o recently underwent double eye surgery to straighten her eyes out. The surgeon informed us, two days later that he "accidently nicked her retina" and had to rush a specialist over to preform a corrective laser procedure, during the surgery. Her right eye drifts up and down now and had never before the surgery. We confronted the doctor and had many questions. He became a bit nervous and stressed upon being questioned. He acknowledged that he would have to operate again to fix the muscles (that he was already paid to do first). We were told to see a retina specialist and we would have to pay for it. Even though it was his fault, we pay? Now our daughter has to go through this surgery again, we both miss another week of work, and she is traumatized. We have to see a 3rd doctor in two more weeks, that again we have to pay for since Samsung''s doctor botched this procedure. Is this malpractice or personal injury?
1 ANSWER
Catastrophic Injury Attorney serving Roseland, NJ
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John J. Ratkowitz
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If you have a case, it is medical malpractice case. The distinguishing characteristic between a medical malpractice case and a personal injury case is that in medical malpractice cases, you have to prove that a doctor did something below accepted standards of medical care. To do that, you need an expert (a medical doctor with qualifications similar to the defendant) to testify about what the applicable accepted standards of care are, and how the defendant failed to abide by them.
Answered on Dec 03rd, 2011 at 1:03 PM