What Constitutes Malpractice in Chiropractic Care and How to Recognize It?
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By PAGE Editor
When people are dealing with continuous pain in the neck and pain, and when nothing seems to help, not even medications, they usually turn to a chiropractor to help them alleviate the pain and get back on their feet.
What they don’t expect is to have even bigger issues after chiropractic appointments, which sadly, isn’t that uncommon. When things go wrong in these situations, it is known as chiropractor malpractice.
It means that a patient didn't receive the required level of care, which resulted in injury, or at times, even death. Once something like this occurs, the injured party (or if a person passes away, then this refers to the family members) has every right to seek compensation for the physical and emotional damage.
If you would like to know more about how these cases generally work, then stay tuned to learn everything!
What Does Negligence Represent In These Instances?
When a chiropractor doesn’t provide the expected and acceptable level of care, which leads to an injury or death, then this can definitely be defined as negligence. There are various actions that can be defined as chiropractic negligence, starting from improper treatments, to misdiagnosing someone, etc.
Besides that, you can also blame a chiropractor for malpractice if they give advice that isn’t generally accepted within their line of work as an accepted standard of practice, which then causes the worsening of someone’s physical health.
So what can be done if you were the victim of chiropractic malpractice? For starters, you first need to find yourself a good personal injury lawyer, which isn't that difficult since there are lots of excellent attorneys.
Speaking of this, there are lots of states in the USA that are renowned for having amazing personal injury advocates, and that’s particularly the case with Michigan. Therefore, if by any chance you live in this state as well, then be sure to do your homework in order to quickly make a list of the most qualified personal injury lawyers in Michigan, and then pick the one who’s going to represent you in court. But before you file a lawsuit against a chiropractor, you first need to join forces with your solicitor and gather all the necessary evidence to prove your injuries.
Your lawyer is here to help you collect the evidence (which usually involves various documents, bills, pictures that prove your injury, etc.), and discuss the damages that you’ll be able to recover in your lawsuit.
Who Else Can Be Held Accountable In This Situation?
Practically anybody who works in a chiropractic clinic and who contributed (to some extent) to the injuries can be held accountable. This refers to the following:
The clinic itself
Chiropractor
Nurses who work in the clinic
Radiologists
Lawsuit proceeds are typically covered by medical malpractice insurance. There are states that do not require chiropractors to have it within their reach, but most of them still have it. Furthermore, health insurers ask chiropractors who accept health insurance from their patients to have medical malpractice coverage on hand.
That may not be the case with every single state within the United States, but it is the case with some of them.
A Potential Compensation You Could Get Due To Chiropractor Malpractice
If you’ve been harmed by a chiropractor, then you have every right to seek compensation for the damages you’ve endured (that’s one of the reasons why you must hire an attorney). There are three sorts of damages you could potentially receive in these situations:
Economic damages
Non-economic damages
Punitive damages
Economic damages are generally the simplest when it comes to calculating because they refer to all the financial losses a person experiences due to malpractice. This includes medical expenses, lost income, money intended for rehabilitation, and others.
On the flip side, non-economic damages are a bit more daunting (in terms of determining the amount of money that’s meant for compensation) because they include losses that aren’t palpable that a person (or their family members) has experienced.
The most common examples of non-economic damages involve pain and suffering, loss of joy, emotional pain, etc. These types of damages are difficult to prove because they are, after all, subjective and their overall value depends on various circumstances of the case.
As far as punitive damages go, they are “awarded” when the defendant’s behavior is considered reckless or rough. Their main purpose is to punish the defendant for this type of behavior and warn them not to do it again.
If you’ve experienced any form of chiropractic negligence, then you must immediately seek medical and legal assistance, because, sometimes, these things can lead to long-term (or even permanent) disabilities.
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