Medical Malpractice Red Flags: How to Know You May Have a Case

Not every bad outcome is malpractice

Medicine is not perfect. Even the best doctors and hospitals occasionally have bad outcomes — patients who don't respond to treatment, complications from surgery that even the most careful surgeon couldn't have prevented, or diseases that progress despite everyone doing everything right. The law recognizes this and does not make providers liable for every disappointing result.

But when a provider deviates from the accepted standard of care and that deviation causes real harm, the law calls that medical malpractice — and holds the provider accountable. The hard question is: how do you tell the difference? Certain red flags, taken alone or together, are strong signs that what happened to you or your loved one may be more than just a bad outcome.

Red flag #1: A diagnosis was missed or delayed

The most common — and most dangerous — form of malpractice is misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, especially of cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and infections. If you were sent home from an emergency room with 'anxiety' or 'muscle strain' and later diagnosed with a heart attack, pulmonary embolism, or stroke, the delay may have caused permanent harm.

The same is true for cancer. A missed early-stage cancer that turns into a late-stage cancer months later can dramatically change the treatment options and the prognosis. If your medical records show symptoms were ignored, tests were not ordered, or abnormal results were not followed up on, that is a serious red flag.

Red flag #2: A surgical error

Surgical errors range from the obvious — wrong-site surgery, wrong-patient surgery, surgical instruments or sponges left inside the body — to more subtle mistakes like damaging a nearby structure that should not have been damaged. Any of these are prima facie evidence of negligence and often lead to strong cases.

Red flag #3: Birth injuries

Cerebral palsy, Erb's palsy, hypoxic brain injuries, and other birth injuries are often the result of negligent care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery. Common causes include failure to monitor fetal heart rate, delayed C-sections, improper use of forceps or vacuum, and failure to recognize and respond to signs of distress. Birth injury cases are among the most complex — and most valuable — in medical malpractice law.

Red flag #4: Medication errors

Wrong medication, wrong dose, wrong route, or a dangerous drug interaction that should have been caught. Hospital and pharmacy medication errors kill and injure tens of thousands of people every year. If a family member deteriorated after starting a new medication in a hospital or nursing home, get the records reviewed.

Red flag #5: Anesthesia complications

Anesthesia is extremely safe when properly administered and monitored. When it isn't — because the patient wasn't properly evaluated, the anesthesia was too much or too little, or vital signs weren't watched carefully — patients can suffer brain damage, awareness during surgery, or death. These cases require expert review to determine what went wrong.

Red flag #6: Infections that shouldn't have happened

Hospital-acquired infections, including MRSA and sepsis, sometimes result from failures in basic infection control — unclean instruments, unwashed hands, catheters left in too long. If a loved one entered a hospital in one condition and left with a devastating infection, the records may tell a story of preventable negligence.

Red flag #7: Nursing home neglect

Bedsores (pressure ulcers), unexplained bruises or fractures, rapid weight loss, dehydration, over-medication, and falls are all common signs of nursing home neglect. Understaffed facilities cutting costs at residents' expense is unfortunately widespread, and families often have strong legal claims when signs of neglect are documented.

Red flag #8: The provider changes the story

If the story about what happened has changed since the incident — if the discharge paperwork says one thing and the doctor now says another, or if the medical records were altered after you requested them — that is a huge warning sign. Attorneys and their medical experts can often spot record tampering, and courts take a very dim view of it.

Red flag #9: A serious injury with no clear explanation

You went in for a routine procedure and something catastrophic happened. The hospital's explanation doesn't add up. The provider is defensive. That is exactly the kind of case where an outside review by a medical expert is essential — because the people involved will not tell you what really happened.

What to do next

If any of these red flags apply to your situation, do not wait. Medical malpractice statutes of limitations are often shorter than for other injury claims — sometimes as short as one year — and evidence gets harder to gather as time passes.

OwlAdvocate matches you with a medical malpractice attorney who will review your case — including having your medical records examined by an independent medical expert — at no cost. If you don't have a case, they'll tell you. If you do, they'll fight for what you deserve.