How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who discovers an object that is foreign, for example, surgical clamps inside her body after gall bladder surgery can bring a lawsuit against a doctor for medical negligence. A successful claim must prove the elements of medical malpractice: duty, deviance from the duty, and direct reason.

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

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice case can be filed by the person who has been injured or a person who is legally authorized to represent them. It could be the spouse, adult child, parent, guardian or administrator of a deceased patient's estate, depending on the circumstances. The plaintiff in a lawsuit for medical malpractice is the health professional. It could be an accredited nurse, doctor or therapist.

Expert testimony is typically required in cases of malpractice. Medical experts are required to testify on whether or not the health care provider adhered to the standards of care for their particular area of expertise. They must also testify as to the damage caused by the doctor’s actions or inactions.

Injuries resulting from malpractice and negligence can be very severe. For instance, a wrong diagnosis of a health issue could cause life-threatening complications. Other kinds of injuries include operating on the wrong body part or putting surgical instruments in the patient.

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

Causation

The injury element is also known as the causation. It is one of the most crucial elements in a medical negligence claim. To prove causation, a plaintiff must prove that they sustained the injury on a balance of probabilities due to due to the negligence of the doctor. This is a challenging task for several reasons.

For instance, many of the injuries that are the subject of a medical-malpractice lawsuit stem from long-term or ongoing ailments that were in the process of being treated prior to. Often the statute of limitations for a henderson medical malpractice attorney malpractice claim extends over a number of years, and injuries can develop gradually.

In these situations it is often difficult to prove that a certain medical professional's violation of the standards of care caused the injury. The attorney could have gathered evidence, Cerritos Medical Malpractice Law Firm like moline medical malpractice lawyer records and expert testimony that the injured person can utilize.

During the discovery process that is part of the legal process preparing for a trial, your lawyer can request the lawyers representing the defendants disclose expert testimony and other documents. The doctor who is representing the case will be asked to take deposition. This is a declaration that is given under the oath. Your lawyer can cross-examine the doctor and challenge their findings. The jury will decide whether the plaintiff has substantiated all the elements of the case including breach of duty, breach of contract and causation.

Negligence

When a medical malpractice claim is filed in court, the plaintiff must to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the doctor breached his or her professional duties and that those breaches resulted in harm. The lawyer for the plaintiff must demonstrate this by presenting evidence through pretrial discovery, which includes seeking disclosure of documents, which includes medical records from all parties involved in the lawsuit. This process also includes sworn declarations that are recorded and used at trial.

A doctor has breached their professional duty by doing something that a reasonable and prudent doctor would not have done under the same circumstances. It must be established that the breach caused injury directly to the patient. This is referred to as causation or causal proximate causes. For example when a patient is taken to the hospital for a hernia procedure and is later told that he or the gall bladder removed instead. This is medical negligence because the procedure was not beneficial to the patient.

Medical malpractice suits must be filed within a legal time limit, known as the statute of limitations. This varies from state to state. The patient who is injured must prove that the negligence caused injury and then prove the amount of financial compensation he or she is entitled to.

Damages

If a medical error has caused you to sustain an injury, you should be made whole. At Scaffidi & Associates, we can assist you to receive the full and fair compensation for your loss.

The first step in a lawsuit is to file and serve a complaint along with summons and other papers on all defendants. The parties then engage in discovery. It is a process in which documents and declarations are revealed under oath. During discovery, medical records and notes from a doctor are typically requested.

In the majority of states, you have to prove four things to be compensated for injuries incurred by medical malpractice: a duty owed by the healthcare provider; a breach of that obligation; a causal connection between the breach and the patient's injury and the damages that result from the injury. If your lawyer can prove all of these elements of a medical negligence claim, you will have a convincing case.

In some cases the court might award punitive damage that is intended to penalize a wrongdoer and neptune beach medical malpractice lawsuit deter others from engaging in similar conduct. But, this isn't often the case in medical malpractice cases since courts require specific proof of malice to make these extraordinary awards.