Types of Malpractice Lawsuits
There are many different types of malpractice lawsuits, including: medical, legal, and professional malpractice. Sometimes a claim may be filed for more than one type of malpractice, but usually your claim will fall under a single category. Below are some examples and links to more information about each:
Medical Malpractice
can be defined as poor conduct of a medical professional in the performance of his/her duties. Medical malpractice does not have to be intentional. It can occur through carelessness or ignorance as well. If you or a loved one suffered an injury (or death in the case of a family member) at the hands of any of the following, you may have a medical malpractice claim: physicians and surgeons, dentists, nurses, nursing home staff, public and private caregivers, pharmacy technicians…
Examples of Medical Malpractice include but are not limited to: Injury to a child or mother during the birthing process (birth injuries), failure to diagnose serious problems such as appendicitis, meningitis, heart attacks and cancer, medication errors such as receiving the wrong medication as a result of illegible handwriting on the prescription, nursing home abuse, neglect and defective pharmaceutical drugs and medical products, and other medical-related injuries.
Professional Malpractice
can be defined as poor conduct of a service professional in the performance of his/her duties. Typically, a professional malpractice lawsuit will be brought against attorneys, accountants, financial advisers, billing companies and other professional, white-collar service people in whom one must put their trust.
Examples of Professional Malpractice include but are not limited to: Misleading statements, insider trading by stock brokers, unauthorized transactions by anyone with a power of attorney, billing fraud - either by a billing company, an accountant or anyone trying to bill you for services not rendered, gross negligence, misreporting the facts, and other errors or negligence on the part of a professional.
Legal Malpractice
can be defined as poor conduct of a legal professional in the performance of his/her duties. Usually a legal malpractice lawsuit will be brought against attorneys who did not adequately represent a client in court. In instances where the attorney failed to bring up important statutes, examine evidence or present the facts, a person may bring a legal malpractice claim against them.
Examples of Legal Malpractice include but are not limited to: Conflicts of interest, poorly written legal documents, excessive litigation at the client’s expense (i.e. making excuses to bill you), obstructing justice, dishonesty, bad legal advice, errors and omissions that result in the dismissal of your case, missing statute of limitation deadlines, and more.