Receiving medical attention for a disease, condition, or illness should eventually result in the ill person getting better. But what happens when that loved one, instead of recovering, passes away? In some cases, this situation is inevitable, but in other situations, it is not. If the family of the loved one can prove that the death was the result of another person’s negligence, then they may be able to receive compensation for medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice is the failure of a health care professional to provide the necessary services and reasonable care that is expected in the particular situation. While most health care workers take pride in offering the best attention possible, preventable errors, such as prescribing the wrong medication or using incorrect techniques when helping patients, do occur, sometimes with horrible consequences. According to a study by the Journal of Patient Safety, preventable situations resulting in fatalities in hospitals create one-sixth of all deaths that occur every year in the United States.
Wrongful death lawyer George T. Bochanis, from the Law Offices of George T. Bochanis, stated that, “Although tragic, not every passing is a result of medical malpractice. Families need to realize that the state of Nevada has specific laws and procedures relating to wrongful death due to medical malpractice and the amount of any possible settlement.”
Nevada laws dictate a $350,000 cap in non-economic damages, such as depression and suffering, for medical malpractice complaints. These laws have other specific requirements, including a time limit of three years from the day of the injury to the time of filing the claim, and more.
“You need to prove that negligence occurred,” Bochanis stated. “You do that by providing expert testimony by another licensed health care professional who reviewed the case and then indicates in court about the detour away from proper and reasonable care.”
“What we really need is a cultural and mental change so that the safety and well-being of every patient is the primary concern of all health care professionals within the Las Vegas health care system,” Bochanis concluded.
