Ohio residents trust their doctors, nurses, and medical professionals with their health and livelihood. Unfortunately, these healthcare professionals do not always live up to the expectations of their patients. In some circumstances, the doctor may have committed medical malpractice under Ohio law. When this happens, the injured patient may be able to sue in an Ohio court for the damages caused by the doctor’s reckless behavior.
What Constitutes Medical Malpractice in Ohio?
Medical Malpractice or medical negligence is the failure of a medical professional to exercise the reasonable skill, care and diligence that other medical professionals similarly situated would have exercised. This is known as the standard of care. The standard of care is to do those things that a reasonably careful physician, surgeon, nurse, hospital or other medical person or entity would do and to refrain from doing those things that a reasonably careful medical professional would not do.
Medical Negligence includes:
Lack of informed consent:
Before performing any procedure, a doctor has an ethical and legal obligation to provide the patient with all available options that a reasonable patient would expect. This includes the potential risks and possible benefits concerning each different treatment option. Then, the doctor must receive consent from the patient before embarking on any treatment option. The doctor cannot merely substitute his or her judgment for the consent of the patient.
Missed Diagnosis or Misdiagnosis:
Ohio, like all other states, holds all medical professionals to a “standard of care.”
Under Ohio law, a doctor must administer care in a manner similar to how other doctors in the same profession would administer care. Some of the most common violations of this “standard of care” involve a doctor who fails to diagnose a person or diagnoses a person with the wrong disease.
When other doctors in the area would not have made this error, then the injury caused to the patient may be recoverable in an Ohio court.
Medication Errors:
Medication errors are one of the leading causes of death in hospitals across the United States, according to NPR.
A medication error can occur in many forms:
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- Medication Regimen: Common medication errors include overprescribing, under-prescribing, prescribing an ineffective dose, or even prescribing an ineffective drug.
- Prescription Error: Doctors’ handwriting is notoriously difficult to read. Sadly, this can cause grave consequences to patients. They may receive a drug with an incorrect dosage, incorrect instructions, or even an incorrect drug altogether.
- Administration Error: For patients at hospitals, nursing homes, or assisted living facilities, it is typically the responsibility of a healthcare professional to administer all prescription medication to the patient. This can lead to an administration error when the healthcare aide may negligently give the patient the wrong dose or the wrong drug.
- Monitoring Error: After prescribing a new drug or a new dose of a current drug, a patient should be monitored for the effectiveness of the drug, as well as any possible side effects. When patients are not adequately monitored and the drugs meant to help them end up harming their health, they may have a recourse through the medical malpractice laws in Ohio.
Ohio’s statute of limitations on medical malpractice
Ohio’s statute of limitations on medical malpractice claims is notoriously short.
In most circumstances, an injured patient will only have one year from the date of the alleged medical malpractice in which to file a claim, according to Section 2305.113 of the Ohio Code. There are several narrow exceptions under Ohio code.
To learn more about whether the circumstances in your case constitute medical malpractice, contact an Ohio personal injury attorney today.
