How to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

A patient who believes that he or she has suffered losses as the result of an error by a doctor is able to file a medical malfeasance lawsuit. These lawsuits differ from typical personal injury claims in that they use a professional standard of care to determine the degree of negligence.

In the United States, malpractice claims are handled by state trial courts. Each state has its own laws and procedures.

Duty of care

A surgeon, doctor or any other health professional is required to provide care to their patients. The law states that any health professional treating you has an obligation to observe the accepted medical practices, without deviation or omission.

The medical standard of care is the legal benchmark to which all medical malpractice claims are weighed. It is crucial to a successful case, since it lays out a specific way to allow the injured person and his or her attorney to prove negligence by proving that a health care professional did not meet the standards of care.

Proving that this standard of care is met usually requires the assistance of a qualified medical expert witness. These experts are vital to establishing the relevant medical standard of care and proving the standard was violated by the defendants in a medical negligence case.

It is also necessary to prove that the breach of duty directly caused your injury, illness, or death. In medical malpractice law Firm malpractice cases, damages can include hospital bills and lost income and future earning capacity, suffering, pain, and even punitive damages. Your lawyer must establish the amount of these damages, which may be greater than the original medical expenses. In certain situations it's easier than in others. Many doctors work at hospitals that give them staff privileges. In those situations, a physician's employer may be held responsible via theories of vicarious liability.

Breach of duty

A doctor is bound to the patient to follow the medical standards of care when providing treatment or services. If a physician fails to fulfill that obligation and an injury occurs the patient is injured, the patient may make a claim for malpractice.

Medical negligence can result from many different actions, including erroneous diagnosis, medication dosage, health management, treatment and aftercare. For a lawsuit to be valid the plaintiff must demonstrate four legal elements. These include:

First, there must be a relationship between the doctor and patient. The physician must have the obligation of informing the patient of any potential risks or potential complications that could arise from the procedure. Failure to do this could make the physician liable for negligence, even if the procedure was carried out perfectly. If the physician did not warn the patient that a certain procedure had an average of 30% risk of causing loss of limbs, then the patient may not have consented to it.

The second thing to be proven is a breach of the standard of care. To demonstrate that the doctor's actions were different from standard care, the lawyer will need expert witness testimony. Additionally, it must be proven that this breach caused the patient's injury.

It can take a long time to finish medical negligence claims in the court system. It involves a significant amount of doctor and attorney time, a thorough review of records, interviewing experts and conducting research into medical malpractice lawyer and legal literature. A doctor who is facing a malpractice suit must pay substantial court fees, attorney's products and costs, and expenses for expert testimony.

Causation

Nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals are humans and they make mistakes. When these mistakes are at the point of being considered negligence, patients may be afflicted with life-threatening injuries. It requires the expertise of both lawyers and doctors to establish that a health provider has acted negligently in duty and caused injury. A successful case requires four legal elements to be established: a physician-patient relation that is based on the doctor's duty to care towards the patient, the doctor's violation of this duty, and then the harm that resulted from the breach.

It must also be proved that the doctor's departure from the standards of care was the sole and primary cause of the injury. This element has a higher legal standard than "beyond reasonable doubt" in criminal cases. The lawyer representing the plaintiff must convince the jury or fact-finder that it is more than likely that the negligence of the doctor caused the injury.

Medical experts are often required at the beginning of the process to help establish all of these elements. Under Rhode Island law, only doctors who have sufficient training, education, skill, and knowledge in the field of claimed malpractice can provide an expert testimony regarding the issue. This is why selecting a qualified medical expert is such an important aspect of an investigation into a case of malpractice.

Damages

A medical negligence lawsuit seeks to recover damages, which include future and past costs associated with an injury. These costs could include hospital bills or doctor visits, injuries and suffering, and even lost wages. The jury will determine the amount of damages awarded based on evidence presented.

The plaintiff or their lawyer must prove four legal aspects during the trial: (1) the physician owed a duty to them; (2) the doctor did not fulfill this duty due to negligence; (3) the doctor’s negligence caused injuries; (4) the injury resulted in measurable damages. Dissatisfaction with a physician's work is not a sign of negligence, but a real injury must be evident. A professional witness can help to determine if a doctor deviated from the standard of care.

The legal process of a malpractice claim may last for years, with extensive time spent in "discovery," which involves the exchange of documents and the statements given under oath to the parties involved in the case. Many cases are settled before reaching the courtroom. However, a smaller percentage of these cases make it to the stage of trial by jury.

In order to cut down on the cost of litigation, a few states have implemented a number of administrative and legislative steps commonly referred to as tort reform measures to reduce the liability of malpractice. In addition, some states have implemented alternative dispute resolution schemes like binding arbitration that is voluntary. The goal of these alternatives to civil litigation is to lower the cost of litigation and speed up treatment of malpractice claims, while removing juries that are too generous and screening out frivolous medical claims.