Atlanta Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
Malpractice can happen in just about any field. It’s not just exclusive to the medical profession.
When it comes to malpractice, people tend to automatically think medical malpractice. While there is a fair amount of medical malpractice happening these days, it isn’t just doctors and nurses that may be sued for malpractice.
In a nutshell, any professional with greater learning who makes a mistake and doesn’t treat you according to their level of higher learning, may be guilty of malpractice. Put another way, a malpractice case may involve those who have been specially educated or certified in some manner “not” doing their job up to the expected level.
Does this usually involve a fair degree of “interpretation?” Fair question and a valid one and yes, your definition of someone not living up to their expected level of expertise may not be what others think that same level happens to be. There is a “usual” accepted standard of performance for various professionals used as a rule of thumb when it comes to assessing any deviation from that standard.
Some examples may be architects, accountants and dentists who know more than the man on the street corner about doing certain things. If you hire someone “professional,” you expect they’ll do the job right, based on their education and the amount of experience they have in their field. In other words, you trust they will do right by you. Malpractice may also be applicable in the case of lawyers.
For a multitude of reasons, you want the advice your lawyer gives you to be right on the money. If it isn’t, you may be in some really sticky situations with no way out. On the extreme end of legal representation, you would consider a murder charge to be critical and hire someone that knows how to defend you within an inch of your life – and in some cases (capital ones) that may be just what happens. In others, to a lesser degree, you want legal advice to be accurate; e.g., you want your assets divided a certain way and not have the family fighting over them – you need a solid will.
Accountants must follow really strict standards. After all, they’re working with someone else’s money. If they mess up and you are audited and found in non-compliance, you can lose money, face damages or face legal problems. When it comes to other professions, like engineers and architects, they too need to know what they’re doing and make sure it works, as the buildings they design and build have to stay erect and not collapse.
Professionals go to school for training that teaches them how to build buildings, balance money, be good doctors and build cases against defendants in court. If they act negligently and don’t do what they’re supposed to do, it’s the client that suffers. If you’ve been in a situation like this or are in one now, speak to a lawyer that has worked in the area of dealing with malpractice cases of all kinds.
Tim Anderson writes for Atlanta Personal Injury attorney, Stephen M. Ozcomert. The firm specializes in personal injury, malpractice, motorcycle accidents, and wrongful death. To learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Stephen M. Ozcomert, visit Ozcomert.com.