How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who discovers an object foreign to the body such as surgical clamps within her body after gall bladder surgery is able to file a lawsuit for medical negligence. A successful lawsuit must establish the elements of medical malpractice: duty, deviation from the duty, and direct reason.

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

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed either by the victim or a legal representative. This can be the spouse or adult child, parent, guardian or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, based on the circumstances. The defendant in a lawsuit for medical malpractice is the health care provider. This could be a nurse, doctor, therapist or medical malpractice Case any other health professional.

Expert testimony is often required in malpractice cases. Medical experts must testify as to whether or whether the healthcare provider adhered to the standards of treatment for their specific area. They also need to testify on the injury caused by the physician's actions or actions or.

The injuries that result from malpractice and negligence can be very serious. A mistake in diagnosis can have devastating consequences, like an illness that could be life-threatening. Other types of injuries include operating on the wrong part or leaving instruments inside the patient during surgery.

The patient must establish four legal elements of a malpractice lawsuit the duty owed to the patient by the physician and a breach of that obligation; an injury resulting by the breach; and the resulting damages. In some states, such as New York, the law puts a limit on amount of money that could be awarded in a malpractice claim.

Causation

The injury element, also known as causation, is among the most crucial elements in medical malpractice cases. To prove causation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that they sustained their injury on a balance of probabilities as a result of the physician's negligence. This can be a difficult task due to a variety of reasons.

For instance, a lot of injuries that are the cause of a medical negligence lawsuit stem from long-term, or ongoing ailments that were present before treatment began. The time limit for a medical malpractice lawsuit can be extended over the course of several years and injuries can develop slowly.

In these instances it is necessary to prove that a medical malpractice law professional's failure to adhere to the standard of care and led to the injury is not easy. The attorney could have gathered evidence, including expert testimony and medical records which the injured patient can use.

During the discovery process, which is a part of the legal process for preparation for a trial, your lawyer may request that the defendants' lawyers disclose expert testimony and other documents. The doctor who is defending the case will be required to testify in deposition. This is a statement that's given under an oath. Your lawyer may cross-examine the doctor and challenge the doctor's findings. The jury will decide whether the plaintiff has established the facts of the case, including duty, breach and causation.

Negligence

If a medical malpractice lawyers malpractice lawsuit is filed the plaintiff has to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the doctor breached his or her professional duties and that those breaches caused injury. The lawyer for the plaintiff must demonstrate this by presenting evidence through pretrial discovery, which involves asking for disclosure of documents such as medical malpractice attorneys records from all parties involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, in which the statements are made under oath and recorded for use in trial, are also a part of this process.

A doctor has breached their professional duty if they did something reasonable and prudent doctors would not have done in similar circumstances. It must be proved that the breach was the cause of the injury directly to the patient. This is known as causation or proximate cause. For instance, a patient goes to the hospital for a procedure to treat a hernia and is later told that he or her gall bladder removed instead. This is medical negligence because the removal was not beneficial for the patient.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within a legally regulated period of time, also known as the statute of limitations, which varies by state. The person who has suffered injury must prove that the substandard care caused injury, and then show how much compensation he or she deserves.

Damages

If a medical error has caused you to suffer a traumatic injury, you are entitled to be made whole. At Scaffidi & Associates, we can assist you to receive an adequate and fair amount of compensation for your losses.

The first step is filing and serving a complaint and summons on all defendants named in the lawsuit. The parties then proceed to discovery, a process by which documents and statements are made public under the oath. Medical records and the notes of the doctor are typically sought during discovery.

In most states, in order to receive compensation for injuries sustained by negligence, you must to establish four elements such as a duty of care due to the healthcare provider and a breach of that duty; a causal link between the breach and injury and damages resultant from the injury. If your attorney can prove all these elements of a medical negligence claim, you will have an impressive case.

In some cases the court can give punitive damages, which are intended to punish the culprit and deter others from committing the same offense. This is not the norm however, in medical malpractice cases. The courts must have clear evidence of malice before they can make these extraordinary awards.