Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are required to fulfill a fiduciary responsibility to their clients, and they must act with diligence, skill and care. Attorneys make mistakes, just like every other professional.

Not all mistakes made by attorneys are considered to be malpractice. To prove legal negligence the aggrieved party must prove the duty, breach of duty, causation, and damage. Let's take a look at each one of these aspects.

Duty-Free

Medical professionals and doctors swear an oath that they will use their skill and training to treat patients and not cause additional harm. A patient's legal right to be compensated for injuries sustained from medical malpractice hinges on the concept of duty of care. Your lawyer can assist you determine whether or not the actions of your doctor violated this duty of care, and whether these breaches caused injury or illness to you.

Your lawyer must demonstrate that the medical professional you hired owed a fiduciary duty to act with reasonable competence and care. This relationship can be established through eyewitness testimony, doctor-patient records, and expert testimony of doctors who have similar education, experience, and training.

Your lawyer must also show that the medical professional breached their duty of care by not living up to the standards of practice that are accepted in their area of expertise. This is typically known as negligence. Your attorney will compare what the defendant did to what a reasonable individual would do in the same situation.

In addition, your lawyer must demonstrate that the defendant's breach of duty directly led to damage or loss to you. This is known as causation. Your lawyer will rely on evidence like your medical or patient records, witness testimony, and expert testimony, to show that the defendant's inability to meet the standards of care was the main cause of injury or loss to you.

Breach

A doctor has a duty to patients of care that conform to the highest standards of medical professionalism. If a physician fails to meet those standards, and the resulting failure causes an injury or medical malpractice, then negligence could occur. Expert evidence from medical professionals who have similar training, certifications and skills can help determine the standard of care in a particular situation. State and federal laws as well as institute policies also determine what doctors should perform for specific types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit it is necessary to prove that the doctor breached his or duty of care and that this breach was the direct cause of an injury. This is known in legal terms as the causation factor and it is essential that it be established. For example, if a broken arm requires an xray the doctor must set the arm and then place it in a cast for proper healing. If the doctor is unable to complete this task and the patient is left with a permanent loss of usage of the arm, malpractice lawyers may be at play.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims are built on the basis of evidence that the attorney made mistakes that led to financial losses for the client. For instance when a lawyer fails to file an action within the timeframe of limitations, leading to the case being lost forever, the injured party could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.

It is crucial to realize that not all mistakes by attorneys constitute malpractice. The mistakes that involve strategy and planning are not generally considered to be malpractice attorneys have a lot of latitude to make judgment calls as long as they are reasonable.

The law also grants attorneys the right to refuse to conduct discovery for a client provided that the reason for the delay was not unreasonable or negligent. The failure to discover crucial documents or malpractice lawsuit facts like witness statements or medical reports could be a sign of legal malpractice. Other instances of malpractice include inability to include certain defendants or claims, such as forgetting to include a survival count in a wrongful death case or the continual and extended failure to contact clients.

It is also important to keep in mind the fact that the plaintiff must demonstrate that, if it weren't the lawyer's negligence they would have prevailed. The plaintiff's claim of malpractice will be rejected when it isn't proven. This makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. It's important to choose a seasoned attorney to represent you.

Damages

To prevail in a legal malpractice lawsuit a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses caused by the actions of an attorney. In the case of a lawsuit this has to be proven through evidence, like expert testimony or correspondence between the attorney and client. A plaintiff must also prove that a reasonable attorney would have prevented the harm caused by the lawyer's negligence. This is referred to as proximate cause.

The definition of malpractice can be found in a variety of ways. Some of the most common mistakes include: not meeting a deadline or statute of limitations; not conducting an investigation into a conflict in cases; applying law in a way that is not appropriate to the client's situation; or breaking the fiduciary duty (i.e. mixing trust funds with attorney's personal accounts) or mishandling an instance, and not communicating with clients.

Medical malpractice lawsuits typically include claims for compensation damages. They are awarded to the victim in exchange for expenses out of pocket and losses, including hospital and medical bills, the cost of equipment that aids in healing, as well as lost wages. Victims may also claim non-economic damages like discomfort and pain as well as loss of enjoyment from their lives, malpractice lawsuit and emotional anxiety.

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