Colonoscopies are generally safe procedures. They have been and continue to be one of the safest procedures that millions of Americans undergo every year. And they are very important procedures which have immense preventative benefits to ensure that patients are not suffering from entirely preventable conditions such as colon cancer. But like any other procedure, even just a booster shot, all procedures carry normal and customary risks. These risks typically include an infection, which is rare for a colonoscopy but still possible. While this may be a customary risk which a patient consents to, misdiagnosing that infection is not a normal risk and may be Oregon medical malpractice.
Medical malpractice is a type of negligence case and professional malpractice. It occurs when a healthcare provider fails to competently perform his or her medical duties. This duty is what a reasonably prudent healthcare provider in the same specialty and locality would have done in similar circumstances. This is known as the standard of care.
If a healthcare provider fails to meet that standard of care, he or she has breached the duty owed to the patient. If this breach of the duty of care causes damages to a patient, the healthcare provider may be liable for all causally related damages. This is known as medical malpractice.
There are many exceptions to medical malpractice. But the most common one is that the injuries or medical error/mistake was a common risk of the procedure or surgery. This means that the procedure had an inherent risk that the patient agreed to take a chance on.
This risk is agreed to by a patient in an informed consent form. This is a doctor where the doctor provides the list of all the risks and explains how they work. The risks, alternatives, and benefits of the procedure are discussed for the patient. Generally if a patient gives informed consent to a known and accepted risk of a procedure, the healthcare provider may not be liable for medical malpractice.
A patient agrees to the risks of a colonoscopy which include a bowel perforation or infection, thus making it hard to bring a medical malpractice claim successfully for these types of injuries. Said differently, patients consent to infections in colonoscopies because they commonly occur, even if medically correct procedures without any errors.
However, a patient does not consent to the misdiagnosis or improper treatment to that infection. If an infection after a colonoscopy is not timely treated, that is an independent grounds for medical malpractice. This is because it is a deviation from the standard of care that a responsibly prudent physician would have noticed and treated, but did not. Victims who have had an infection after a colonoscopy, and that infection was not timely treated, may have a claim.
While you consent to the risks of an infection, you do not consent for a medical professional to allow that infection to fester and grow, causing serious personal injury. If this has happened to you, call our Oregon medical malpractice lawyer to learn what your rights to compensation may be.
We handle cases throughout Oregon, including anywhere in Central Oregon, Deschutes County, Redmond, Sisters, La Pine, Prineville, Madras, Corvallis, Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Multnomah County, Happy Valley, Hood River, Pendleton, Vancover, Washington, Newport, Astoria, Coos Bay, Tillamook, Clackamas, West Linn, Salem, Portland, Eugene, Gresham, Hillsboro, Medford, and any other city, including Bend, Oregon where our main law office is located, please call Kuhlman Law, LLC by dialing (541) 385-1999 to learn what your rights to compensation you may have. You may also contact us using our easy and convenient “contact us” box at the bottom of our website. If we accept your case, we will conduct a thorough investigation to get you the answers you deserve, all for free. There is no risk, and you only pay us if we recover compensation for you.