How to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

In order to bring a medical malpractice suit against a doctor or a hospital you must establish that the defendant has violated their obligation to patients. This evidence could be a medical and hospital documents.

Our lawyers have a wealth of experience in taking depositions that are effective. They could be doctors, other medical professionals in private practice, malpractice or even staff members at a hospital or clinic.

Negligence

If a patient is seen by a doctor, hospital or health care professional they are entitled to certain standards of medical treatment. Unfortunately they aren't always met or even violated. This can lead to devastating consequences.

If someone is injured or suffers death as a result of a doctor's malpractice, they may pursue a lawsuit against the medical professional. To prove a case the patient who has been injured must establish four legal elements including breach of duty and damages and causation.

Malpractice is defined as an act committed by an individual doctor that is not in line with the norms of the medical community and causes harm to patients. It is a subset of tort law, which deals with civil wrongs that are not legal obligations or criminal offenses.

Medical negligence is different from normal negligence in that the victim must demonstrate that the doctor was aware, or ought to have known that their actions were going to cause harm before they can claim malpractice. Normal negligence doesn't. A surgeon who accidentally nicks or cuts the nerve or vein during surgery is guilty of negligence, but not negligence. This is because the surgeon did not intend to cause harm to anyone.

In a medical malpractice case the defendant is under the obligation of treating the patient according to the standard of care a reasonably competent healthcare professional with the same experience and education in similar circumstances could provide. The breach of duty is significant because it demonstrates that the alleged negligent conduct caused the injury.

Damages

The damages in a malpractice case are dependent on the losses you sustained due to negligence by a doctor. These could include both financial loss, like the cost of future medical care as well as non-economic losses like pain and suffering.

To recover damages, it is necessary to establish that a doctor acted in violation of the duty of care, that his deviation from the standard of care led to injuries, and that the injury had quantifiable financial consequences. This is a complex legal analysis, which usually requires expert witness testimony.

Some of these losses are evident, such as if your doctor made an error that caused an infection or other medical complications that required additional treatment because of it. Some damage is more difficult to detect for instance, when doctors misdiagnose your condition and you cannot get the proper treatment.

You can sue wrongful death when a doctor's negligence caused your death. You can claim punitive damages in addition the compensation you'd receive in a case of survival.

In many states, there is a limit on what you can claim in a lawsuit for malpractice. These caps vary from state to state and are generally applicable to both financial and other damages. Some states also have rules that restrict the time you have to wait to bring a lawsuit.

Time Limits

As with any lawsuit there are deadlines that must be adhered to, or the case could be thrown out. In general, a malpractice lawsuit must be filed within two to six months of the medical malpractice law firm occurring. The time limit differs by state.

It is crucial to consult an attorney as soon as possible. The law firm will conduct an investigation to determine if any malpractice occurred and whether it will be found to be valid in court. This phase can last for weeks or even months.

Medical malpractice cases have different laws than other types of cases, and often the statute of limitation is altered. For instance, in Pennsylvania the patient has to file a claim within two years from the time they realized the alsip malpractice attorney or that a reasonable person would have recognized that the harm existed. This is known as the discovery rule.

In other states, the statute of limitations begins to run from the date the hobbs malpractice Lawsuit happened. This can be an issue if the error does not cause immediate symptoms. Consider, for instance, that a doctor negligently left a foreign object in the body of the patient following surgery. The patient may not discover the foreign object until three or more years after the surgery. In this case the statute of limitation could have start running from the date of the procedure instead of the time of discovery of the error.

Expert Witnesses

Many medical malpractice cases rely on experts to explain the facts of the case. Expert witnesses for plaintiffs will be able to testify about the doctor's duty of taking care of the patient and the medical standards applicable to the region and specialty for this type of doctor with similar qualifications and expertise and the ways the defendant departed from the standards. The expert will then explain how the deviance directly caused the patient's injury.

The defendant will hire an expert to counter the plaintiff's expert and provide their professional opinion on whether the doctor was able to provide the required care. Experts may differ, but the fact-finder decides which expert is the most credible.

It is best that the expert continue to be working in the medical field, because they will have more knowledge of the current practice. Judges and jurors are likely to consider practicing doctors more trustworthy than experts who rely only on the testimony of a court.

It is also preferable to have an expert witness who is skilled in the field of negligence. A medical expert who has had experience treating breast cancer for instance, can provide an argument that is convincing regarding the reason for an injury. A seasoned Ocala medical malpractice attorney will be aware of the experts to contact for your case.