What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to meet the accepted standard of care, meaning they didn’t act the way another qualified provider would have under the same circumstances.
This doesn’t apply to unexpected outcomes or cases where treatment didn’t work. It applies when crucial mistakes are made and should have been avoided.
Common types of cases our Minnesota medical malpractice attorneys see include:
Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis
Some patients visit the same office several times and report symptoms that match known conditions. However, providers overlook lab results or delay testing. By the time another doctor identifies the issue, treatment may be too late.
Example: A patient reports ongoing pain, unexplained weight loss, and abnormal labs. No one orders imaging. Months later, a new provider finds late-stage colorectal cancer.
Surgical Errors
A surgeon operates on the wrong area, leaves surgical tools behind, or fails to prevent post-op complications like infections or internal bleeding.
Example: A surgeon completes a routine hernia repair. Staff misses signs of infection, and the patient returns with sepsis. The patient loses part of their intestine and spends weeks in intensive care.
Medication Mistakes
These cases involve avoidable errors with prescriptions, dosage, or known drug interactions, often within the same health system.
Example: A patient receives two prescriptions from different providers inside the same clinic. No one flags the interaction. The patient suffers organ damage.
Labor and Delivery Errors
During birth, small delays can have lifelong consequences. Some teams wait too long for a C-section. Others ignore early warning signs during prenatal care.
Example: A patient reports headaches and blurred vision during her third trimester. Staff sends her home without checking for preeclampsia. Days later, she experiences seizures during delivery. The baby survives, but only after full resuscitation.
Anesthesia Failures
Mistakes during surgery can cause oxygen loss, brain injury, or death. Teams are expected to screen patients thoroughly and monitor them in real time.
Example: A patient goes under anesthesia for outpatient surgery. No one checks their allergy noted in the chart. They go into shock on the table and suffer permanent neurological damage from lack of oxygen.
Medical malpractice isn’t always apparent at first. Some injuries emerge slowly. Others are dismissed as “just how things go.” If something about the care you or a loved one received doesn’t add up, contact a Minnesota medical malpractice lawyer who can break it down step-by-step.
Meshbesher & Spence works directly with individuals and families to investigate cases of possible malpractice. We can review your records, explain what should have happened, and explain what options may be available.
