How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who discovers a foreign object such as surgical clamps inside her body after gall bladder surgery can sue for medical negligence. A successful lawsuit must prove the legal aspects of raymondville medical malpractice lawyer negligence: duty, deviance from this obligation, direct cause and injury.

Our clients must establish a direct connection between the breach of duty, and the injury. This is known as proximate cause.

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice lawyer malpractice lawsuit can be filed by the person who has been injured or a legal person to act on their behalf. This could be a spouse or adult child, parent, guardian or administrator of a deceased patient's estate, based on the circumstances. The plaintiff in a medical malpractice suit is the health care provider. This could be a doctor, nurse or therapist, or any other licensed health professional.

Malpractice cases typically involve a lot of expert testimony. Medical experts must testify as to whether the health care provider acted within the standard of treatment in their particular field of expertise. They also have to testify about injuries caused by doctor's actions or Vimeo inactions.

Injuries resulting from malpractice and negligence can be very serious. A misdiagnosis could have grave consequences, including a life-threatening condition. Other types of injuries include performing surgery on the wrong body part or putting instruments inside the patient during surgery.

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

Causation

The injury element is known as the causation. It is among the most crucial aspects in a medical malpractice claim. To prove causation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that they sustained the injury based on a balance of probabilities because of the negligence of a physician. This is a challenging task due to a variety of reasons.

Many of the injuries that form the basis of a medical negligence lawsuit stem from long-term conditions or ongoing conditions that existed prior to when treatment started. The time limit for a medical malpractice case can be extended over the course of several years and injuries may develop slowly.

In these instances it is difficult to prove that a medical professional's violation of the standard of care that led to the injury is a challenge. However, the patient who is afflicted may be able to use the evidence collected by the attorney, like medical records and expert testimony.

During the discovery procedure that is part of the legal procedure for prepping for a trial your lawyer can request the lawyers of the defendants provide expert testimony and other documents. The doctor who is defending the lawsuit will then be asked to give evidence during a deposition, which is testimony given under an oath. Your lawyer can cross-examine the doctor and challenge their conclusions. The jury will then decide if the plaintiff has proved the essential elements of their case such as obligation, breach, causation and injury.

Negligence

If a marengo medical malpractice attorney malpractice lawsuit is filed the plaintiff has to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the physician violated professional duties and those breaches caused injuries. The plaintiff's lawyer has to prove this using evidence gathered through pre-trial discovery, which involves seeking disclosure of documents, which includes medical records from all parties who are involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, wherein statements are made under oath, and recorded for trial, are also part of this process.

A doctor has violated his or her professional duty if he or she did something that a reasonable prudent physician would not do in the same circumstances. It must be proved that the breach caused injury directly to the patient. This is known as causation or causal proximate causes. For example, a patient goes to the hospital for a hernia procedure and then has his or her gall bladder removed instead. This is medical malpractice because the removal of the gall bladder did not benefit the patient.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be brought within a legally defined period of time, also known as the statute of limitations, which varies by state. The victim must prove that the care provided was substandard and caused injury and then he or she must demonstrate the amount of compensation he or her deserves.

Damages

If medical negligence has caused you to suffer an injury, you should be made whole. At Scaffidi & Associates, we can help you receive the full and fair compensation you deserve for your losses.

The first step is to file and serve a complaint and summons on all named defendants in the lawsuit. The parties then begin discovery, a procedure in which documents and declarations are made public under the oath. Medical records and notes of the doctor are usually requested during discovery.

In most states, in order to be eligible for compensation for injuries incurred by malpractice, you need to establish four elements: a duty of care owed by the healthcare provider, a breach of this duty; a causal link between the breach and injury and damages caused by the injury. If your attorney can establish all of these elements, you have a strong case for financial recovery in a medical malpractice case.

In certain cases the court could give punitive damages that is designed to punish the wrongdoer and discourage others from committing similar acts. However, this is not the norm in medical malpractice cases, as courts require specific proof of malice to award these extraordinary awards.