What Is a Medical Malpractice Claim?

A medical malpractice claim is filed by an individual who is unhappy with the carelessness of a healthcare professional. The patient (or his or her estate if the patient died) must show that the negligence caused injury or harm.

In general, lawsuits that claim medical negligence are filed in state trial courts. To prevail in a lawsuit the party seeking to be harmed must prove four elements of law:

Duty of care

In any legal action in any legal matter, the plaintiff must prove that a person or entity was liable to them for a duty of care and did not fulfill that duty. In medical malpractice cases it is a physician's obligation to provide their patients with the appropriate standard of treatment. This is typically determined through expert testimony.

Expert witnesses can help determine the correct medical standards, and then demonstrate how a doctor deviated from the guidelines in their treatment of the patient. A plaintiff's attorney for medical malpractice needs to demonstrate that the deviation caused the victim's injuries.

Expert testimony is crucial since jurors are often not knowledgeable about anatomy and have seen a lot of medical dramas. This is particularly relevant in medical malpractice cases since it can be difficult to establish a proper standard of care. In a medical malpractice case, the standard refers to the level of competence, quality of care and level of diligence that other doctors in similar specialties in similar circumstances.

Typically, experts in medical malpractice cases are fellow physicians or surgeons with similar qualifications and board certifications. Due to the "conspiracy of silence" among a number of doctors (a term lawyers employ to describe the tendency of doctors not to testify against one another), it can be difficult to locate an expert who is qualified to be a witness against a colleague for sub-standard care.

Breach of duty

If a doctor commits an error which harms the patient, this is considered medical malpractice. Those mistakes can cause new injuries or make existing ones worse. Medical malpractice claims can be complicated issues and laws, making them difficult to prove. However, a good medical malpractice law firm malpractice lawyer will examine the circumstances of your case and determine if a doctor violated his or her duty to the patient.

Your attorney will establish there was a doctor-patient connection between you and your doctor, which is a requirement for any malpractice claim. Your attorney will also examine your physician's actions and decisions to determine if they met what is referred to as the standard of care for doctors of similar education, background and geographical location within your state.

Physicians are required to respect the standards that their patients have set without omission or deviation. A breach of that duty means that the doctor failed to meet those expectations and that failure resulted in harm to you.

Proving a breach of duty is usually straightforward with the help of the research of your attorney and expert witnesses. Experts can testify that the doctor's actions did not meet the standard of medical treatment and provide reasons why a different medical professional would have acted differently in similar circumstances. Your lawyer must also connect the breach of duty with your injuries and damages. Your lawyer will scrutinize your medical records as well as test results, prescriptions and imaging scans in order to construct an argument that your physician's breach of duty directly led to your injuries.

Causation

All treatments come with a degree of risk, however medical errors can add to those risks. To prove causation in a malpractice claim the patient who has been injured must prove a direct connection between the negligence alleged and the injury. In many cases this requires expert testimony and the assistance of a medical malpractice lawyer.

medical Malpractice lawyers errors can be errors in diagnosis, such as misdiagnosing serious ailments or illnesses. If doctors fail to detect cancer or other conditions, it can have severe consequences for the patient. In this scenario, the patient may experience unneeded suffering, or even death. In the absence of diagnosing the condition correctly the doctor could have committed malpractice.

Proving that your doctor or hospital was negligent in their treatment of you isn't easy and takes a lot of time. Evidence could come from number of sources, including medical records or test results, expert witness testimony and depositions. Your attorney can assist you in obtaining and understanding the evidence, as well as representing you in the process of depositions.

It is vital to understand that only healthcare professionals are liable for malpractice. Nurses and doctors, as opposed to receptionists working in medical centers are expected to follow the current standards of care. That means that a medical professional should be able to foresee consequences from their skills and education.

Damages

In medical malpractice cases courts will hear about financial damages that are intended to compensate the victim. These types of damages can include future and past medical bills, lost wages, disfigurement and pain, and loss of enjoyment of life. Punitive damages can be awarded in a few cases. They are only awarded to egregious acts that society wants to deter.

A medical malpractice case starts by filing in the court of a civil summons. The parties then engage in discovery, a process in which the plaintiff and defendants make statements under the oath. This can include requesting the exchange of documents, such as medical records, deposing parties who are involved in the lawsuit, and conducting interviews with witnesses.

One of the most important elements to prove in a medical malpractice case is that the doctor was under a legal duty to provide medical treatment and care to the patient. The second aspect is that the doctor breached his obligation by failing to follow the medical malpractice lawsuits standard of care. The third factor is that the breach caused injury to the patient.

It is vital to note that the statute of limitations (the legally-defined period within which a medical negligence claim must be filed) differs from state to state. In New York, there is a statute of limitations of two years and six months (30 months) following the date of the medical malpractice.