How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who finds an object that is foreign, for example, surgical clamps within her body after gall bladder surgery could bring a lawsuit against a doctor for medical malpractice. A successful claim must establish the legal elements of medical negligence: duty, deviation from this duty, direct cause, and injury.

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

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice claim can be filed by the person who has been injured or a legal person to act on their behalf. It could be the spouse or adult child or parent, guardian or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, depending on the circumstances. In a case involving medical malpractice the defendant is the health care provider. This could be an accredited doctor, nurse or therapist.

Expert testimony is often required in cases of malpractice. elon medical malpractice lawsuit experts must determine if the doctor performed his duties in accordance with the standard of care in their specific area of expertise. They must also testify as to the harm caused by the actions or inactions of the doctor.

The consequences of negligence and mistakes can be catastrophic. For example, a misdiagnosis of a medical condition could have life-threatening consequences. Other types of injuries include operating on the wrong body part or leaving instruments inside the patient during surgery.

The patient must establish four legal elements of a malpractice claim: a duty owed to the patient by the physician; a breach of this obligation; a harm caused by the breach; and the resulting damages. In some states, such as New York, the law places a limit on the amount of money that can be awarded for an injury resulting from a malpractice claim.

Causation

The injury element, also known as causation, is among the most important aspects of medical malpractice cases. To prove causation, the plaintiff must prove that their injury was caused by the doctor's negligence. This can be a challenging task for several reasons.

A lot of the injuries that form the basis for a gardner medical malpractice attorney negligence lawsuit result from chronic conditions that existed prior to when treatment started. Often the statute of limitations for a medical malpractice lawsuit extends over a variety of years, and the injuries may develop slowly.

In these instances, proving that a medical professional's failure to adhere to the standard of care and led to the injury can be difficult. The attorney may have collected evidence, including expert testimony and medical records which the injured patient could use.

During the discovery process, which is part of the legal process for prepping for trial, your lawyer may ask for the disclosure of expert testimony and other evidence from defendants' attorneys. The doctor who is defending the lawsuit will be asked to give evidence during depositions, which are the testimony under oath. Your lawyer can challenge the doctor's findings and cross-examine them. The jury will decide then if the plaintiff has proved the necessary elements of their case including duty, breach, causation and injury.

Negligence

If a claim for medical malpractice is filed, the plaintiff will have to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the doctor committed a breach of professional obligations and that those breaches caused injury. The plaintiff's lawyer has to demonstrate this with evidence gathered through pretrial discovery, which entails seeking disclosure of documents, which includes medical records from all parties who are involved in the lawsuit. This process also includes sworn statements that are recorded and used in trial.

A doctor has breached their professional duty when they did something that an ordinary prudent doctor would not have done under the same circumstances. However it must be proven that the breach directly caused injury to the patient. This is known as causation or proximate cause. For instance the patient is admitted to the hospital for a hernia surgery and is later told that he 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 regulated time frame, known as the statute of limitations, which varies according to the state. The person who suffered the injury must prove that the substandard treatment caused injury, and they must establish what compensation they are entitled to.

Damages

You should be compensated for any injuries that you've suffered as a result of medical negligence. Scaffidi & Associates can help you receive fair and full compensation for your losses.

The first step in a lawsuit is to file and serve a complaint, summons and other documents on all defendants. The parties then proceed to discovery, a procedure in which documents and statements are made public under an oath. During discovery medical records and notes from a doctor will usually be requested.

In most states, you need to prove four things in order to be compensated for injuries caused by medical malpractice which includes a duty to the healthcare provider and a breach of that duty; a causal relationship between the breach and the injury suffered by the patient and the damages that result from the injury. If your attorney can establish all of these elements, then you've got an argument for financial recovery in a medical malpractice claim.

In certain cases courts may award punitive damages, which are designed to punish the wrongdoer and deter others from engaging in similar misconduct. This isn't often, however, in medical malpractice cases. The courts must be able to prove evidence of malice before they may give these extraordinary damages.