Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys have a fiduciary duty to their clients and they must behave with a high degree of skill, diligence and care. But, as with all professionals attorneys make mistakes.

Not every mistake made by an attorney can be considered an act of malpractice. To prove legal malpractice, an victim must prove obligation, breach, causation and damage. Let's look at each of these elements.

Duty

Doctors and other medical professionals swear to use their training and expertise to treat patients and not cause harm to others. The legal right of a patient to receive compensation for injuries resulting from medical malpractice is based on the concept of the duty of care. Your attorney can assist you determine if your doctor's actions violated the duty of care, and if the breach caused injury or illness to you.

Your lawyer must establish that the medical professional was bound by the duty of a fiduciary to perform with reasonable competence and care. Proving that this relationship existed may require evidence, such as your doctor-patient records eyewitness accounts and expert testimony from doctors who have similar experiences, education and training.

Your lawyer will also need to establish that the medical professional violated their duty of care in not adhering to the accepted standards of their field. This is often referred to as negligence. Your attorney will examine the defendant's actions to what a reasonable individual would take in the same scenario.

Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the defendant's breach caused direct injury or loss. This is known as causation. Your lawyer will make use of evidence like your medical records, witness statements and expert testimony to demonstrate that the defendant's inability to adhere to the standards of care in your case was the direct cause of your loss or injury.

Breach

A doctor has a duty of care for his patients that is in line with professional medical standards. If a doctor fails to adhere to these standards and the result is an injury and/or medical malpractice, then negligence could result. Expert testimony from medical professionals who have similar training, certifications as well as experience and qualifications can help determine the quality of care for a specific situation. State and federal laws and institute policies also help determine what doctors should perform for specific types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit, it must be shown that the doctor breached his or her duty of care and that the breach was a direct cause of an injury. In legal terms, this is referred to as the causation element and it is essential that it is established. If a physician has to take an x-ray of an injured arm, they must put the arm in a cast and properly place it. If the doctor is unable to perform this, and the patient loses their the use of their arm, then malpractice may be at play.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims rely on evidence that shows the attorney's errors caused financial losses to the client. For instance when a lawyer does not file an action within the timeframe of limitations, leading to the case being lost forever the party who suffered damages could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.

It is important to realize that not all mistakes made by lawyers constitute wrong. Strategies and planning errors aren't usually considered to be a sign of misconduct. Attorneys have a wide choice of discretion when it comes to making decisions as long as they're rational.

The law also gives attorneys the right to refuse to conduct discovery on behalf of clients provided that the error was not unreasonable or negligent. Failing to discover important information or documents like medical or witness statements can be a case of legal malpractice. Other instances of malpractice include inability to include certain claims or defendants such as failing to make a survival claim in a wrongful death lawsuit or the continual and persistent inability to contact clients.

It's also important to keep in mind that it has to be proven that, if not the lawyer's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the underlying case. In the event that it is not, the plaintiff's claim for malpractice will be denied. This requirement makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. It's important to find an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

In order to prevail in a legal malpractice lawsuit, a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses caused by an attorney's actions. In a lawsuit, this needs to be demonstrated using evidence, such as expert testimony and correspondence between the attorney and client. A plaintiff must also prove that a reasonable attorney could have prevented the damage caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is known as the proximate cause.

Malpractice can occur in many different ways. The most frequent kinds of malpractice are: failing to meet a deadline, for example, the statute of limitations, a failure to conduct a conflict check or any other due diligence on a case, improperly applying law to a client's circumstance or breaking a fiduciary duty (i.e. commingling trust account funds with an attorney's personal accounts) and mishandling a case, and not communicating with a client.

In the majority of medical malpractice cases, the plaintiff will seek compensation damages. These compensate the victim for out-of-pocket expenses and losses, malpractice lawsuit such as hospital and medical bills, the cost of equipment required to aid in recovery, and loss of wages. Victims may also claim non-economic damages such as pain and discomfort and loss of enjoyment their lives, and emotional anxiety.

In a lot of legal malpractice cases there are lawsuits for punitive as well as compensatory damages. The first is meant to compensate the victim for losses caused by the negligence of the attorney while the latter is designed to deter future malpractice by the defendant's side.