When you go to a medical clinic, a hospital, or any other medical facility, you may think that the operation or procedure you are undergoing poses the greatest danger to your health. While there is risk in any procedure, here in Mississippi I see a large number of injuries occur as a result of a “failure to monitor” a patient after a procedure is completed. So while a failure to monitor a patient may seem benign compared to a procedure that goes wrong, the results can be just as harmful and even fatal.

What is a Failure to Monitor Error?

Many medical procedures require some sort of monitoring after the procedure is complete. That requirement is the reason why you are not just immediately discharged after a medical procedure. Instead, you usually sit and rest for a period of time and your vital signs are taken periodically. There are many examples of procedures requiring this sort of period of monitoring, including any procedure requiring anesthesia, dialysis, child birth, and procedures requiring multiple drugs that interact. Other situations requiring monitoring are less acute, such as the monitoring of an elderly person who is confined to a bed to make sure he or she does not develop bed sores.

The responsibility of monitoring a patient is spread across the medical facility, but includes the physicians involved, nurses, and other medical professionals charged with monitoring a patient’s health and safety.

What is Negligence?

You are not necessarily due a settlement simply because you something unfortunate occurred in the course of your medical care, and there is a difference between something accidentally or unavoidably occurring during a medical procedure and negligence. You cannot recover damages based simply on an unfortunate, unavoidable occurrence, but you may be able to recover a tremendous settlement once negligence is established. But how is medical negligence different from an accident?

Negligence means that a health care professional or health care-associated establishment fails to provide care in line with the generally accepted standards, and the individual is injured as a result. To establish negligence based on a failure to monitor you will have to show:  a) you were under the care of a medical professional; b) the medical professional failed to meet the “standard of care” for monitoring you; and c) you were injured as a result of that failure.

What Does the “Standard of Care” Mean for Monitoring?

Simply put, malpractice occurs when the patient’s medical care does not meet current medical standards. You do not necessarily need to be monitored constantly; however, there is a standard for how often your vital signs are to be taken and how soon you are to be sent home. If a medical professional fails to meet that standard, their behavior is considered negligent.

What Should You Do If You Were Injured as a Result of a Failure to Monitor?

Serious infections, injury, and even death can result from a medical professional’s failure to monitor you adequately in conjunction with a medical procedure. You deserve compensation. Contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately and let experienced personal injury counsel take care of preserving medical records, dealing with aggressive opposing counsel, attaining expert diagnoses, and dealing with insurance companies. These are important tasks that an only a personal injury attorney can handle for you.

Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi personal injury law firm, to represent you if you have suffered an injury that you believe is due to medical malpractice.

Barrett Law has the experience to take on defense attorneys and insurance companies that are focused on denying your compensation for your injuries.  Contact us now at (601) 790-1505.