Being improperly diagnosed, treated, medicated or operated upon by a doctor can be one of the most traumatic experiences of a lifetime. Fortunately, there are opportunities to receive compensation for these wrongs, and even to introduce criminal charges against medical practitioners in certain extreme cases.

 

      Legally, medical malpractice (“mala praxis” in Latin) is defined as the “failure of a professional to follow the accepted standards of his or her profession.”

 

      Medical malpractice is a broad term generally used to describe any treatment, lack of treatment, or other departure from accepted standards of medical care, health care, or safety on the part of a health care provider that causes harm to a patient. Examples of medical malpractice are too numerous to list. Medical malpractice can include, however, misdiagnosis, improper treatment, failure to treat, delay in treatment, failure to perform appropriate follow-up, prescription errors, etc. In many instances, medical malpractice is not obvious to a lay-person and requires the review and analysis by medical experts.