How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who discovers that an object foreign to her like surgical clamps, remains in her body following gall bladder surgery can file a medical malpractice lawsuit. A successful claim must establish the legal elements of medical negligence: duty, deviation from this duty, direct cause and injury.

Our clients must establish a direct connection between the breach of duty, and the injury. This is known as the proximate cause.

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice case can be filed by the person who has been injured or a legal person to represent them. This could be the spouse or adult child or parent, guardian or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, based on the circumstances. In a medical malpractice lawyers malpractice case, the defendant is the health care provider. This could be an accredited nurse, doctor or therapist.

Expert testimony is usually required in cases of malpractice. Medical experts are required to testify whether or not the health care provider adhered to the standards of care for their particular area of expertise. They must also testify about the harm caused by the doctor's actions or inactions.

Injury caused by negligence and negligence can be very serious. For example, a misdiagnosis of a health problem could result in life-threatening consequences. Other kinds of injuries include performing surgery on the wrong body part or putting instruments inside the patient during surgery.

The patient must establish four legal elements in a malpractice case: a duty owed to the patient by the doctor and a breach of this duty; injury caused by the breach; and resulting damages. In some states, such as New York, the law puts a limit on amount of money that can be awarded for an action for malpractice.

Causation

The injury element is called the causation. It is one of the most crucial elements in a medical malpractice claim. To establish causation the plaintiff must prove that the injury was caused by a physician's negligence. This can be a challenging job due to various reasons.

Many of the injuries that are the basis for medical negligence lawsuits result from long-term or ongoing conditions that existed prior to when treatment began. Often the statute of limitations for a claim involving medical malpractice is extended over a period of years and the injuries can develop gradually.

In these instances, proving that a medical professional's breach of the standard of care that led to the injury is not easy. However, the aggrieved patient could be able to make use of evidence collected by the attorney, including medical records and expert testimony.

During the discovery procedure as part of the legal procedure for preparing for a trial, your lawyer can request the lawyers for the defendants be made aware of expert testimony and other documents. The doctor who is representing the case will be required to testify in deposition. This is a testimony that's given under oath. Your lawyer is able to cross-examine doctor and contest their findings. The jury will decide whether the plaintiff has substantiated the facts of the case which include breach of duty, breach and causation.

Negligence

The plaintiff must convince jurors, in a case of medical malpractice, that it is likely that the doctor acted in violation of his or her duties as a physician and that those mistakes led to injuries. The plaintiff's lawyer must prove this using evidence gathered through pre-trial discovery, which involves seeking disclosure of documents, which includes medical records from all parties who are involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, in which statements are made under oath, and recorded for use in trial, are also part of this procedure.

A doctor violated his or her professional obligations in the event that he or her did something that a reasonably prudent physician would not do in similar circumstances. It must be proven that the breach was the cause of the injury directly to the patient. This is referred to as causation or proximate causes. For example an individual goes to the hospital for a hernia operation and is later told that he or her gall bladder removed instead. This is medical malpractice since the removal of the gall bladder did not benefit the patient.

Medical malpractice suits must be filed within a legal period, referred to as the statute of limitations. This is different from state to state. The injured patient has to demonstrate that the treatment was substandard and caused injury, then they must show what compensation they are entitled to.

Damages

If medical negligence has led you to sustain an injury, you have the right to be made whole. Scaffidi & Associates can help you get fair and complete compensation for your losses.

The first step in a lawsuit is to file and serve a complaint, summons and other documents on all defendants. The parties then participate in discovery, a procedure in which documents and statements are made public under an oath. Medical records and the doctor's notes are typically requested during discovery.

In the majority of states, you need to demonstrate four elements in order to be compensated for any injuries caused by medical malpractice: a duty owed by the healthcare provider; a breach of that duty; a causal connection between the breach and the injury suffered by the patient and the damages that result from the injury. If your attorney can prove all these elements in a medical malpractice claim, you will have an enviable case.

In certain cases courts may award punitive damages, which are intended to punish the offender and deter others from engaging in similar conduct. But, this isn't often the case in medical malpractice attorneys malpractice law firm (read this post from Sobrouremedio) malpractice cases, because the courts require evident proof of malice in order to award these awe-inspiring awards.