Misclassification suits are often filed against insurance companies, hospitals and other medical providers. The general assumption is that doctors who perform surgery will be classified as specialists and therefore as such they are exempt from malpractice lawsuits. However, the reality is that they are in fact very susceptible to these suits.
Misclassification suits are based on the premise that the doctors performing the surgery are actually not qualified. These lawsuits are also based on the premise that the hospital is actually not providing the best medical care for its patients. This is because most of the misdiagnosed cases are not immediately life-threatening.
Many medical malpractice cases are settled out of court. Medical experts believe that a large number of these settlements can be attributed to the fact that the plaintiff is under financial pressure and therefore does not have the money to pursue legal action.
Other lawsuits deal with wrongful death and are related to the negligence of the hospital. In the case of a wrongful death lawsuit, the family of the deceased person has to prove that the doctor involved in the case committed acts that caused the patient’s death. These cases are also highly subjective in nature and involve the expertise of expert witnesses. The results of the investigations are used to prove negligence on the part of the defendant.
There are times when it becomes difficult to prove negligence on the part of the hospital and doctors, especially in the case of medical records. It is always possible to seek information about medical records on the Internet. The National Association of Medical Examiners (NAMEO) has a website that contains the medical records and procedures required for the examination of a particular patient. The patient can also get all the documents necessary to prove negligence or malpractice on the part of the hospital.
Doctors who are misdiagnosed can become targets of medical malpractice suits. A doctor who is misdiagnosed as a specialist and thus exempted from malpractice suit can face a lot of problems as the patient and his family will be forced to bear the medical costs. If the case is not taken to court, the misdiagnosis could be used against the doctor in the future, which may not be in the favor of the patient’s family.
Hospitals and health care providers are also vulnerable to the suits. Some of the claims are based on the assumption that they are not providing the best health care to their patients. In some cases, hospital and other health care providers have been found guilty of providing substandard care to patients who had already been subjected to surgical procedures.
In these cases, the health care provider has been accused of not performing surgery on the patients as they should have. Another reason why hospital misclassification suits can be filed is that if a hospital offers treatment for cancer or some other terminal illness, the patient’s family might think that they are suffering from terminal disease. The patient may be misdiagnosed as having a terminal illness by the health care provider and thus is eligible for a malpractice lawsuit.
Most insurance companies are liable for misclassification lawsuits when there are errors made on the medical reports given by the company. This means that the insurance company might not have accurately reported the medical records and thus the health care provider may have to pay for the damages.
The law provides a remedy to these types of medical claims. If the health care provider fails to provide the patient with a correct medical report or fails to give the necessary medical information to the patient and then provides incorrect information, then this may lead to a lawsuit being filed against the health care provider.
Another reason that the doctor misclassifies a patient as being ill is that he could be negligent in treating the patient. For example, if a doctor misdiagnoses the patient as being in a serious condition but the patient continues to suffer from the same condition, then this may lead to the doctor to claim that the patient is not in a serious condition.
Another reason is that a health care provider might be responsible for the wrong diagnosis if he uses a method of medical treatment that does not work. An example is that a patient might have to undergo surgery for his heart disease, and then after the surgery, he is told that he does not need any further treatment. This may lead to misclassification lawsuits against the health care provider.
