What Is a Medical Malpractice Claim?

A medical malpractice claim involves a patient complaining about carelessness by a healthcare worker. The patient, or his or his or her estate in the case of a deceased patient, must show that the negligence caused injury or harm.

Legal actions claiming medical malpractice are usually filed in state trial courts. In order to win a lawsuit the party seeking to be harmed must prove four elements of law:

Duty of care

In order to prove a legal claim, Medical Malpractice Lawsuit a plaintiff has to prove that he or she was owed a duty of duty by a person or an organization and that they failed to fulfill the obligation. In medical malpractice cases, it is the responsibility of medical professionals to provide the right quality of care to their patients. This is usually determined through expert testimony.

Expert witnesses can help determine the appropriate medical standards and then explain how a doctor violated those standards in their treatment of the patient. A medical malpractice lawyer for a plaintiff must then prove that the deviation was directly at fault for the injury suffered by the victim.

Using expert testimony is essential because jurors generally are not aware of anatomy, and they watch numerous medical dramas. This is particularly relevant in medical malpractice claims as it isn't easy to establish a minimum standard of care. In a medical malpractice lawsuit the standard is the level of expertise quality of care, as well as the degree of diligence other physicians in similar specialties have under similar circumstances.

Typically, experts in medical malpractice cases are fellow surgeons or doctors who have the same qualifications and board certifications. It isn't easy to locate an expert willing to testify about substandard medical care due to the "conspiracy" of silence among doctors.

Breach of duty

Medical negligence occurs when a physician is negligent and hurts the patient. These errors can cause new injuries or worsen existing ones. Medical malpractice claims are complicated laws and issues, making them difficult to prove. An experienced medical malpractice attorney will investigate your case to determine if a physician has breached their duty to you.

Your attorney will establish a doctor-patient connection between you and your physician which is essential for any malpractice claim. Your attorney will examine the decisions and actions of your physician to determine whether the standard of care in your state for doctors with similar training, experience, and geographic location is in place.

Physicians are required to respect the standards established by their patients without deviation or omission. If they violate this duty, it means that the doctor did not meet the expectations of his patients and resulted in injury to you.

Proving that a breach of duty occurred is generally straightforward with the aid of the research of your attorney and expert witnesses. Expert witnesses can testify to how the doctor's actions did not meet the standards of care and also explain why a different medical professional in similar circumstances would have behaved differently. Your lawyer must also be able to link the breach of duty to your injuries and damages. Your lawyer will review your medical records and test results, prescriptions and imaging scans to build a solid case that the breach of duty of your physician directly contributed to your injuries.

Causation

All treatments come with a degree of risk, but medical errors can add to those dangers. To prove causality in a malpractice case, an injured patient must demonstrate a direct link between the negligence alleged and their injury. In many cases this requires expert testimony and the assistance of a lawyer for medical malpractice.

Medical errors can be errors in diagnosis, such as misdiagnosing serious ailments or illnesses. If the doctor fails to identify cancer or another condition the result could have devastating consequences for the patient. In this case, the patient could suffer in pain that is not needed and could even end up dying. In the absence of diagnosing the condition properly, the doctor may have committed malpractice.

Proving that a medical professional or hospital failed to treat you appropriately can be difficult and time-consuming. Evidence could come from a variety of sources, including medical records tests, medical malpractice attorneys records, expert witness testimony and depositions. Your attorney can assist you with obtaining and interpreting the evidence as well representing you in the process of depositions.

It is also important to know that only healthcare professionals can be sued for malpractice. Nurses and doctors, in contrast to receptionists at medical centers, are expected to follow the current standards of medical care. This means that a medical professional should be able to anticipate the consequences in light of their expertise and knowledge.

Damages

In medical malpractice cases, the courts will consider monetary settlements intended to pay injured patients. These types of damages can include future and past medical bills and lost wages, as well as the disfigurement caused by pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. In some cases, punitive damages may also be awarded; these are reserved for the most egregious actions that society is interested in preventing.

A medical malpractice lawsuit begins with the filing in the court of a civil summons. The parties will then proceed to discovery. This is a process in which the defendant and plaintiff take oaths to make statements. This may include asking for medical records, taking depositions of parties who are involved in a lawsuit and interviewing witnesses.

In a medical malpractice claim it is vital to prove that the physician was legally obligated to provide medical treatment and care to the patient. The second aspect is that the doctor violated that obligation by not adhering to the standard of medical practice. The third factor is whether the breach resulted in injury to the patient.

It is important to know that the statutes of limitations (the legally prescribed time period within which an action for medical malpractice has to be filed) vary from state the state. In New York, there is a statute of limitations of two years and six month (30 months) after the date of the medical malpractice.