We live in an era where it is becoming a norm to hear about medical negligence, misdiagnosis, wrong medication, and substandard medical care in Nigerian hospitals. Indeed, many of the stories are scary and no one prays to be at the receiving end.
But because these cases are the reality in today’s society, it raises the question of liability and who pays for the human error which may have ended tragically or caused lifelong damages and who has the power to call out a negligent medical provider.
It is trite that only the person that has been a victim of the medical error can sue but if the patient has passed on due to the effects of negligence or error, then the next of kin of the patient which can be the spouse, children or parents or legal guardian, can sue for compensation. And such cases can come up when medical practitioners who owe the legal duty of care towards their patients engages in any act that may have caused a breach leading to damage to the patient.
The victim can ask for compensation if the medical professional must exercise a reasonable standard of care towards patients and the standard is not met. The important factor to note when suing for compensation is that you must have suffered some harm as a result of the act being complained about.
While there is variation in individual states, claims of medical negligence and other medical diagnosis issues have a period of three years to ask for compensation and this time period runs from the date when you first received the negligent treatment complained of or the date on which you first discovered that the treatment was negligent.
While amount of compensation awarded will vary from claim to claim because each case is individual, the court will consider these factors; person’s age, severity of injury, employment status and associated losses caused as a result of the negligent treatment etc.
If you think you have suffered from medical negligence, it is important to speak to a lawyer to review your case to know if you have met factors required to ask for claims.
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