Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are in a fiduciary position with their clients and are expected to behave with care, diligence and ability. However, just like any other professional, attorneys make mistakes.

There are many errors made by attorneys are considered to be malpractice. To prove that legal malpractice has occurred, the aggrieved party has to prove the breach of duty, duty, causation and damages. Let's look at each of these components.

Duty

Doctors and medical professionals take the oath of using their expertise and knowledge to treat patients and not cause additional harm. A patient's legal right to be compensated for injuries sustained due to medical malpractice is based on the concept of the duty of care. Your attorney can determine if your doctor's actions violated the duty of care and if these breaches resulted in injury or illness.

Your lawyer must establish that the medical professional in question owed you a fiduciary duty to act with reasonable competence and care. This can be demonstrated by eyewitness testimony, doctor-patient records and expert testimony of doctors with similar education, experience, and training.

Your lawyer will also need to establish that the medical professional violated their duty to care by failing to adhere to the accepted standards of their field. This is often referred to as negligence, and your attorney will examine the defendant's actions to what a reasonable individual would do in the same situation.

Your lawyer will also need to prove that the breach by the defendant directly contributed to your loss or injury. This is referred to as causation. Your attorney will use evidence, such as your doctor/patient records, witness testimony, and expert testimony, to demonstrate that the defendant's failure comply with the standard of care was the direct reason for the loss or injury to you.

Breach

A doctor has a duty to patients of care that are consistent with professional standards in medical practice. If a physician fails to meet the standards, and the failure results in an injury or medical malpractice law firm, then negligence could occur. Typically experts' testimony from medical professionals with similar training, letts.org skills, certifications and experience will help determine what the appropriate standard of care is in a specific situation. Federal and state laws, along with policies of the institute, help define what doctors are expected to do for certain kinds of patients.

To win a malpractice claim it must be established that the doctor did not fulfill his or her duty to care and that the violation was the primary cause of an injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation element, and it is imperative to prove it. For instance an injured arm requires an xray the doctor has to properly place the arm and put it in a cast for proper healing. If the doctor is unable to perform this, and the patient loses their use of the arm, malpractice may have taken place.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims are based on the evidence that the attorney committed mistakes that resulted in financial losses for the client. Legal malpractice claims can be filed by the victim if, for example, the attorney does not file the lawsuit within the timeframes set by the statute of limitations and this results in the case being permanently lost.

It is important to realize that not all errors made by attorneys are wrong. Planning and strategy errors are not always considered to be misconduct. Attorneys have a broad range of discretion in making decisions, as long as they're reasonable.

Additionally, the law grants attorneys the right to perform discovery on a client's behalf, as provided that the decision was not unreasonable or negligent. The failure to discover crucial facts or documents, such as medical or witness statements could be a sign of legal malpractice. Other examples of malpractice include a inability to include certain defendants or claims such as omitting to submit a survival count in a wrongful death case or the consistent and long-running failure to contact the client.

It's also important that it has to be proven that, if not the negligence of the lawyer the plaintiff would have won the underlying case. The plaintiff's claim for malpractice is deemed invalid if it is not proven. This requirement makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. This is why it's important to choose a seasoned attorney to represent you.

Damages

A plaintiff must demonstrate that the attorney's actions have caused actual financial losses to win a legal malpractice lawsuit. This must be shown in a lawsuit using evidence like expert testimony, correspondence between the client and attorney along with billing records and other documents. The plaintiff must also show that a reasonable attorney could have prevented the harm caused by the lawyer's negligence. This is referred to as the proximate cause.

The definition of malpractice can be found in a variety of ways. The most frequent mistakes include: not meeting an expiration date or statute of limitations; not conducting an investigation into a conflict in cases; applying law improperly to a client's situation; or breaking the fiduciary duty (i.e. Commingling funds from a trust account an attorney's own accounts as well as failing to communicate with the client are just a few examples of misconduct.

In the majority of medical malpractice cases the plaintiff will seek compensation damages. These damages compensate the victim for out-of-pocket expenses as well as losses, such as hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment to aid in recovery, and lost wages. Additionally, victims may seek non-economic damages, like suffering and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and emotional distress.

Legal malpractice cases often involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The first compensates the victim for the losses caused by negligence on the part of the attorney and the latter is intended to prevent future mistakes on the defendant's part.