Medical malpractice cases handled by a Personal Injury Lawyer in Murfreesboro TN can be some of the most difficult ones to win. The plaintiff and the attorney must prove that negligence on the part of the facility’s staff resulted in harm. Usually, this is physical harm, but some individuals want to sue for emotional trauma. Because this is an intangible aspect, the malpractice insurer will typically fight the demand.
Misdiagnosis Situations
Someone who has never experienced this type of situation may still be familiar with it from TV medical dramas or lawyer shows, or from news stories about incredibly stressful incidents associated with medical facilities. What happens if a patient is diagnosed with terminal cancer, but then is told a week later that the diagnosis was wrong? This is good news, to be sure, but the person has been put through immeasurable emotional distress.
The conduct of the medical staff must have been extreme for this type of lawsuit to have a chance of success. A misdiagnosis of strep throat before a throat culture’s results come back is not going to qualify for an emotional distress case.
Physical and Emotional Harm
Usually, a Personal Injury Lawyer in Murfreesboro TN will have a better chance of success in requesting compensation for emotional trauma if the patient also was physically harmed. Needing to have a second operation because a doctor or another staff member left a medical tool inside the body is an example of an incident that could understandably cause significant emotional distress.
Pain and Suffering
The psychological trauma might be included under a broader category known as pain and suffering. This is also an intangible aspect and usually addresses physical discomfort, but a person in these situations certainly may have suffered emotionally too.
An especially valid example would be parents whose young child was irreversibly harmed by medical negligence and will need ongoing care for a lifetime. The malpractice insurer may be anxious to provide a high settlement and avoid a lawsuit, but a firm such as the Law Office of Gritton & Gritton PLLC may very well want to bring this type of case before a jury. The jury then can decide on deserved compensation for both physical and emotional damages.
