Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

A medical malpractice lawyer aids injured patients receive compensation for their losses. The common law system governs medical malpractice claims.

In the common law, doctors are required to follow a certain standard of care when treating patients. If a doctor violates accepted medical practice and results in death or injury, the doctor may be held responsible for negligence.

Duty of Care

Medical professionals must adhere to set of standards that are recognized by the tigard medical malpractice lawyer profession as reasonable and prudent in their care. A patient could be in a position to file a lawsuit against a medical professional if those standards aren't met and the result is injury or health complications.

The first step in a malpractice claim involves establishing that you had a doctor-patient relationship with the healthcare provider at issue and that the entity or person was bound to act in a reasonable way. You must then prove that the breach occurred. This is usually done through the recourse to expert witnesses who can provide an objective analysis and assessment of the situation.

The expert witness will determine if the defendant's actions fell below the standard of care that is accepted in your particular case. The expert will look over your medical records and also interview or question you to make this determination.

You should also be able to establish that the breach of duty directly led you to experience injury. This is known as causation, and it is the third component of a negligence claim. In most cases, you will need to have a direct cause-and-effect relationship between the breach of duty and the resulting injury. For instance, a misdiagnosis could lead to the wrong medication or treatment being prescribed and in turn causes an adverse reaction, like heart attacks.

Breach of Duty

Just like everyone else physicians, doctors are legally bound by an obligation to act with the utmost care and caution. However, doctors are held to a higher standard since they are considered medical experts who make life and death decisions. The duty of care can be found in laws and standards governing specific types of treatment and procedures.

One of the first things that must be proven in a negligence case is that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. Then, it needs to be proved that the defendant breached that duty of care. This means that the doctor failed to meet the standards of care in the particular situation. The quality of care is usually determined by what a typical person would do under similar situations. For instance the reasonable driver would not run when there is a red light.

In a case of malpractice, expert witnesses may be required to provide evidence on the standard of care that was not met and how the standard was violated. They can also describe the reason behind the injury and what could have prevented it.

Damages

In the United States, physicians are required to carry malpractice insurance in order to protect themselves against any damages that could result from medical negligence. To file a lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove both financial losses (such medical expenses and lost wages) and non-economic losses (such suffering and pain).

The amount of compensation you receive from a successful malpractice suit is contingent on how effectively your New York medical malpractice attorney defends your losses. Your lawyer can determine your medically required expenses through a review of your medical records, evidence from experts and the assistance of economic experts. In order to establish your loss of earnings the medical malpractice lawyer must prove the number of days you missed work due to your medical issues and the fact that these days off work resulted from the negligence of the defendant.

Non-economic damages can be more difficult to prove and could require the assistance of a professional who can give evidence about your physical, emotional and mental suffering because of the negligence of the defendant. Loss of consortium is another type of non-economic harm. This is the inability of having an intimate relationship with your spouse, or any other significant person like you used to. The attorney representing the defendant will challenge your non-economic damages through interrogatories, medical malpractice lawyer depositions and requests for statements and documents under swearing.

Statute of limitations

In New York, as with every state, there are specific time limits - commonly known as statutes of limitations within which a medical negligence lawsuit must be filed, or otherwise it will be rejected by the courts. A seasoned New York medical malpractice lawyer is knowledgeable about these particulars and will ensure your claim is filed within the deadlines that are set by law.

In the majority of cases, the victim of medical negligence has to make a claim within two-and-a-half years from the date the act or omission committed by an health professional caused death or injury. However, as with all laws there are a few exceptions to this rule. If, for instance the error of the health professional was part of a continuing treatment plan, then the "clock" of 30 months will not start until the treatment has been completed or the patient has been informed of the diagnosis.

Additionally, in certain situations such as when the foreign object remains in the body after surgery or treatment, it may not be possible for a patient to discover the issue until much later. This is why many states have adopted the legal concept of discovery rule, which allows injured victims to extend deadlines in certain situations. Your attorney will be familiar with the rules of your state and will review your case's timeline carefully to avoid any administrative errors which could delay your claims.