Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are bound by a fiduciary obligation to their clients and they must act with a high degree of skill, diligence and care. However, like all professionals, attorneys make mistakes.

The mistakes made by an attorney can be considered an act of malpractice. To prove negligence in a legal sense the person who was hurt must prove the breach of duty, duty, causation and damage. Let's take a look at each of these elements.

Duty-Free

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

Your lawyer has to prove that the medical professional was bound by the fiduciary obligation to act with reasonable skill and care. This can be demonstrated by eyewitness testimony, physician-patient documents and expert testimony from doctors who have similar education, experience, and training.

Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the medical professional violated their duty of care by not adhering to the standards of practice that are accepted in their field. This is often called negligence. Your attorney will evaluate the defendant's conduct with what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.

Your lawyer must also show that the defendant's negligence directly caused your loss or injury. This is known as causation. Your attorney will use evidence like your doctor or patient documents, witness testimony and expert testimony, malpractice Lawsuits to prove that the defendant's inability to comply with the standard of care was the primary reason for the loss or injury to you.

Breach

A doctor has a responsibility of treatment to his patients that reflects professional medical standards. If a physician fails to adhere to these standards and the failure causes injury, then medical malpractice and negligence may occur. Expert witness testimony from medical professionals that have similar training, certificates, skills and experience can help determine the appropriate level of care in any given situation. State and federal laws as well as institute policies can also be used to determine what doctors are required to do for specific types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice case it must be proven that the doctor breached his or their duty of care, and that the breach was the direct cause of an injury. This is known in legal terms as the causation element, and it is crucial that it is established. If a doctor has to obtain an xray of an injured arm, they must put the arm in a cast and then correctly set it. If the doctor failed to do this and the patient was left with an unavoidable loss of use of the arm, then malpractice may have occurred.

Causation

Legal malpractice claims are founded on the evidence that the attorney made mistakes that caused financial losses to the client. Legal malpractice claims may be brought by the victim for example, if the attorney fails to file the lawsuit within the prescribed time and this results in the case being lost forever.

It's important to know that not all errors made by lawyers are considered to be malpractice lawyers. Planning and strategy errors aren't usually considered to be a sign of negligence. Attorneys have a broad decision-making discretion to make decisions so long as they're rational.

In addition, the law allows attorneys considerable leeway to fail to conduct discovery on a client's behalf, as long as it was not unreasonable or negligent. Legal malpractice can be caused when a lawyer fails to find important documents or malpractice lawsuits evidence, such as medical reports or witness statements. Other examples of malpractice are a failure to add certain defendants or claims such as omitting to file a survival count in a case of wrongful death or the consistent and long-running failure to contact clients.

It's also important to note that it has to be proven that, if not the negligence of the lawyer, the plaintiff would have won the case. The claim of malpractice by the plaintiff is deemed invalid in the event that it is not proved. This makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. For this reason, it's crucial to hire an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

To prevail in a legal malpractice lawsuit, the plaintiff must prove actual financial losses incurred by the actions of an attorney. In a lawsuit, this must be proved with evidence, like expert testimony or correspondence between the client and attorney. A plaintiff must also prove that a reasonable attorney could have prevented the damage caused by the lawyer's negligence. This is known as proximate cause.

It can happen in many different ways. Some of the more common types of malpractice include: failing to meet a deadline, including the statute of limitations, failing to conduct a check on conflicts or other due diligence check on a case, improperly applying the law to a client's case and breaching a fiduciary responsibility (i.e. mixing funds from a trust account with an attorney's account, mishandling a case and failing to communicate with the client are all examples of malpractice.

Medical malpractice lawsuits typically include claims for compensation damages. They are awarded to the victim in exchange for the 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 can also claim non-economic damages like discomfort and pain, loss of enjoyment of their lives, and emotional stress.

Legal malpractice lawyers cases typically include claims for compensatory and punitive damages. The former compensates victims for the loss resulting from the attorney's negligence, while the latter is intended to deter any future malpractice committed by the defendant.