When you’ve placed all your faith in a healthcare professional, clinic or hospital’s ability to keep you safe and healthy, and they fail through incompetence, errors or misjudgment, you deserve to be compensated for additional injuries that you suffer. Usually, this falls under malpractice, but what happens if the injury is the result of a combination of human error, faulty product or equipment?
Such cases blur the line between a product liability case and a malpractice case. These types of cases can get very complex. Learn what happens when your case is both a factor of defective products and medical malpractice and why you need help from a product liability attorney.
Medical Malpractice Cases
In a medical malpractice case, the key factor is proving negligence on the part of the physician or another healthcare provider. Healthcare professionals have an expanded duty of care based on the oath they take to do no harm. If you can prove they violated that responsibility through carelessness or any other reason, and that violation directly or indirectly caused you harm, you may have a medical malpractice claim.
In essence, negligence means that someone, somewhere in the chain, acted in a grossly irresponsible way (or failed to act responsibly) and their failure caused another person harm. It’s the lynchpin upon which most personal injury cases hinge.
Product Liability Cases
Product liability cases, on the other hand, come in three forms. Either a product was manufactured with a defect that made it dangerous from the outset, a product was designed with a core flaw that makes it dangerous, or a product was shipped to market without proper warning of the potential dangers it carries.
This can apply to things like new surgical equipment and technology which has an inherent danger the user may not be aware of, or it can apply to things like medications which carry side effects about which there were no warnings. If you can demonstrate one of the three factors above, you may be able to pursue product liability.
When the Two Overlap
In some cases, the two kinds of cases overlap. The circumstances under which this happens can be nebulous and the cases themselves can be very complex. If for example, a piece of surgical equipment possesses a danger that’s not clearly warned about, but which should’ve been discovered had the surgeon had better training, both problems can arise.
Product Liability Attorney Services
It can be very difficult to pursue these cases as the various parties try to shift blame and avoid payouts. That’s why you need a solid medical malpractice and product liability attorney in your corner. The right attorney knows exactly how to go up against insurance companies and hospitals who will go to any length to avoid paying your claim.
For many years, the personal injury attorneys at the McMahan Law Firm have been here to help Chattanooga area clients get the settlements they deserve. If you’re facing this kind of case, complete our online contact form, or give us a call and let’s sit down for a free consultation today!
