Have you experienced personal injury due to dental work that has caused serious health issues? If so, you should consider filing a dental malpractice lawsuit.
Dental malpractice refers to medical malpractice for an injury resulting from negligent dental work, failure to diagnose or treat a dangerous condition, delayed diagnosis or treatment of oral disease, or any intentional misconduct on the part of the dentist. Because dentists are highly qualified medical professionals, they are held to the same level of care of any ordinary, prudent dentist who administers care under similar circumstances based on their education, geographic location and experience.
To sue a dentist for medical malpractice, you must be able to prove to a judge or jury that you suffered an injury as a result of a dentist’s provision of sub-standard care. Any lawsuit that is based on principles of negligence must meet a four-pronged threshold to establish proof. Those four prongs are: duty, breach, causation and damages.
What might be a reason for dental malpractice? Here are some of the most common dental malpractice lawsuits:
- Anesthesia Complications
- Injuries from oral nerves
- Root Canal Injuries
- Failure to Diagnose Oral Diseases or Cancers
- Complications with Bridges and Crowns
- Wrongful Death
- Infections
- Tooth extraction problems
- Complications with Novocain.
If any of these or other negligent acts have caused further medical problems, this may constitute medical malpractice; however, not all injuries that occur are based on negligence. Sometimes, the dentist and his staff can do everything correctly, and there is still a bad outcome. What if the injury happened three months to a year ago and you have been out of work due to pain and suffering? You may be entitled to compensation, but time is of the essence.
A common question we receive is about the Statue of Limitations. In Georgia, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice is two years from the date on which an injury or death arising from the negligent act or omission occurred. However, Georgia also has a statute of repose, which provides that even if the patient or family did not know about the malpractice, unless there is fraud, concealment, or misrepresentation, under no circumstances may a healthcare provider be sued for medical malpractice more than five years after the actual incident of malpractice. There can be shorter time limits also, if a governmental entity is involved.
Contact a skilled legal team as soon as possible. You should also have all the proper documentation to meet with your attorney. Your dental record should have a clear order of events that happened as well as all the communication between you and your dentist. Be sure to retrieve all records based on the procedure, such as the written consent form, your dental history, the treatment plan prescribed, any notes made at the time, follow up medical records due to the injury and other documents that might help prove your case. If you are not able to gather these, your attorney will gather them for you. Your legal team will need these records for review to determine if any malpractice occurred.
As specialists in personal injury law, we can help if you believe that you have suffered as a result dental malpractice. Contact Friedman & Martin today at 912-232-8500.