Cosmetic Surgery Medical Malpractice

    DALLAS, TX, December 28, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Any kind of physician can be held liable for medical malpractice, including cosmetic surgeons. If your cosmetic surgery has an unwanted or medically dangerous outcome, you may be able to sue your cosmetic surgeon based on:

- Medical negligence
- Breach of contract
- Breach of warranty

Each of these theories requires you to prove different legal elements in order to win a lawsuit. Below, each theory of liability is examined in more detail.

Medical Negligence in Cosmetic Surgery Malpractice

The majority of medical malpractice claims are based on negligence, including cosmetic surgery malpractice cases. Negligence essentially means that a physician has made an error that a doctor of reasonable competence and skill level would not have made under the same circumstances. If this error leads to an otherwise avoidable injury or illness for the patient, the doctor can be held liable for malpractice.

In order to prove medical negligence in a cosmetic surgery case, you must be able to demonstrate that your surgeon failed to provide the standard quality of work that other cosmetic surgeons would have provided. Just because you did not receive the results you expected does not mean the cosmetic surgeon is guilty of negligence. The surgeon may have done everything in his or her power to provide the best possible results. It is essential to show how that a surgeon has fallen short of the accepted standard of care in order to establish negligence.

Breach of Contract in Cosmetic Surgery

If a cosmetic surgeon does not perform the specific surgery that the patient agreed upon, the patient may have grounds to sue the doctor for breach of contract. An example of a breach of contract situation would be if the cosmetic surgeon performed a breast augmentation using:

- A different type of breast implant than the patient agreed upon
- A different incision location than the patient agreed upon
- A different size than the patient agreed upon

Even if nothing is written down or signed on paper, a contract is formed whenever a cosmetic surgeon and a patient agree that a procedure will be performed. If a doctor fails to execute the contract as agreed upon, this breach can be considered a form of medical malpractice.

However, it is important to note that recoverable damages for a breach of contract case can be limited. In most cases, only economic damages are available. Damages for pain and suffering and loss of normal life are usually not involved.

Breach of Warranty in Cosmetic Surgery

In certain cases, a cosmetic surgeon may promise certain results to encourage patients to agree to a particular cosmetic procedure. This promise is generally interpreted by the court as a warranty. If the doctor does not end up providing the promised results, you may be able to sue the surgeon for breaching their warranty.

Specificity is key when deciding whether or not a doctor made a warranty promise. For example, if the surgeon said "you will have the best-looking breasts ever," this is probably not a warranty. However, if he said "your breasts will look exactly like Pamela Anderson's," this is a measurable promise that can be evaluated objectively.

In order to win any cosmetic surgery malpractice case, you must first establish the level of care that other surgeons would have provided under similar circumstances, and then demonstrate how the doctor fell short of this standard. Proving this can be difficult, requiring the testimony of an expert medical witness, and the experience of a skilled medical malpractice attorney.

If you would like more information about medical malpractice, please visit the website of the experienced Dallas medical malpractice lawyers at Polewski & Associates today.

Website: http://www.polewskilaw.com

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