How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who finds an object that is foreign, for example, surgical clamps in her body following gall bladder surgery is able to sue for medical negligence. A successful claim must establish the legal elements of medical negligence: duty, deviance from this obligation, direct cause and injury.

Our clients must establish a direct link between the breach of duty and the injury. This is referred to as the proximate reason.

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed by the person who has been injured or a person legally designated to represent them. This can be the spouse, adult child, parent, guardian or administrator of the estate of a deceased person depending on the specific circumstances. The plaintiff in a medical malpractice suit is the health professional. It could be a licensed doctor, nurse or therapist.

Expert testimony is usually required in malpractice cases. Medical experts are required to testify as to whether the health care provider was acting in accordance with the standards of care in their particular field of expertise. They must also testify to the damage caused by the doctor’s actions or inactions.

Injuries resulting from malpractice and negligence can be extremely serious. For example, a misdiagnosis of a health issue could have life-threatening consequences. Other types of injuries can include operating on the wrong body part or leaving surgical instruments inside the patient.

The patient must establish four legal elements of a malpractice claim the duty owed to the patient by the physician; a breach of this duty; injury caused by the breach and the consequential damages. In certain states, such as New York the law limits the amount of money that can be awarded in a malpractice case.

Causation

The injury element is called the causation. It is one of most crucial elements in a medical malpractice claim. To prove causation, the plaintiff must show that they sustained their injury on the balance of probabilities due to due to the negligence of the doctor. This can be a difficult task for several reasons.

For instance, many injuries that are the cause of a medical negligence lawsuit arise from long-term or ongoing illnesses that were present prior to treatment. The time period for filing a medical malpractice case can be extended over several years and injuries may develop slowly.

In these situations it can be difficult to prove that one particular medical professional's failure to adhere to the standard of care led to the injury. The attorney could have collected evidence, including expert testimony and medical records that the injured person could use.

In the discovery process that is part of the legal process the preparation of a trial your lawyer can request the defendants' lawyers disclose expert testimony and other documents. The doctor who is defending the lawsuit will be asked to testify during a deposition, which is testimony that is under an oath. Your lawyer can challenge doctor's findings and cross-examine them. The jury will decide whether the plaintiff has substantiated the elements of the case which include breach of duty, breach and causation.

Negligence

When a medical malpractice claim is filed the plaintiff has to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the physician violated professional duties and that those violations caused injury. The lawyer for the plaintiff must demonstrate this with evidence gathered through pretrial discovery, which includes seeking disclosure of documents, which includes medical records from all parties who are involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, in which the statements are made under oath and recorded for use in trial, are also part of this process.

A doctor has violated his or her professional duty when he or she did something that a reasonable prudent doctor would not do in similar circumstances. It must be proved that the breach caused the injury directly to the patient. This is called causation or the proximate cause. A patient might go to the hospital to repair a hernia, but instead end up having their gall bladder removed. This is hurstbourne medical malpractice lawyer malpractice as the removal of the gall bladder was not beneficial to the patient.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within a legally defined period of time, also known as the statute of limitations, which varies by state. The patient who is injured must prove that the care provided was substandard and caused injury, and then prove how much monetary compensation he or her deserves.

Damages

If a medical error has caused you to suffer a traumatic injury, you have the right to be compensated. At Scaffidi & Associates, we can assist you to receive an adequate and fair amount of compensation for your loss.

The first step is to file and serve the complaint and summons to all named defendants in the lawsuit. The parties are involved in discovery. It is a process where documents and statements are revealed under the oath. During discovery, medical records and notes from a doctor will usually be requested.

In the majority of states, you must prove four things to be compensated for the injuries caused by medical malpractice which includes a duty to the healthcare provider and a breach of that duty; a causal connection between the breach and the injury suffered by the patient as well as damages that result from the injury. If your lawyer can prove all of these elements, you have an argument for financial compensation in a medical malpractice claim.

In some cases the court can award punitive damages, which are designed to punish the perpetrator and discourage others from engaging in similar conduct. But, this isn't often the case in lake bluff medical malpractice lawyer malpractice cases, because the courts require evident proof of malice in order to give these extraordinary awards.