Medical Malpractice Law

Medical errors can happen even with the best education or a sworn promise of not harming others. If they do, the consequences can be devastating for patients.

Malpractice law is a branch of tort law which deals with professional negligence. A malpractice case must meet four fundamental requirements:

Malpractice claims in the United States are typically filed in state trial courts. To collect evidence, a variety of legal tools are used and include depositions conducted under the oath.

Duty of care

When you have a doctor-patient relationship, a doctor is required to provide taking care of you. This applies whether the doctor is treating you in a hospital or your home. However, there are circumstances when doctors may be liable for malpractice even without the existence of a patient-doctor relationship.

A person who owes an obligation of care must act in the same way as a reasonable person under the circumstances. For example, a driver, has a duty of care to drive with safety and not to cause injury to other road users. If a driver does not fulfill this duty and causes an injury, he or her could be held accountable for any injuries that result.

Doctors are obliged to taking care of their patients at all times. This includes when a physician is not your official physician such as when you ask an expert to provide advice in an elevator or a restaurant. Good Samaritan laws often limit the duty to be a good Samaritan.

Medical professionals are also bound by a duty of care to warn their patients about the dangers that are associated with certain procedures and treatments. A failure to do so is a violation of the doctor's duty of responsibility. A doctor can also breach their duty of care if they provide you a medication that is known to interact with other medications that you are taking.

Breach of duty

In general, doctors have the obligation to their patients to provide medical care that is in accordance with accepted standards of practice. This standard is established by the laws of today and by standards established by medical associations. If a physician fails to meet this obligation, they are acting negligently. A malpractice attorney will look over the evidence and determine whether there was a violation of the standard of care.

A doctor can violate their duty of care in numerous ways. It's not about just whether doctors did something that normal people would not do in the same situation but also things they should have done or didn't do. Most of the time, it is necessary to obtain expert witness testimony to determine what the accepted medical standard of care would be.

For instance, a doctor who prescribes a medication recognized to be in danger of interaction with other drugs may have violated their responsibilities. This is a common error that can have grave health implications.

However, just proving that there was a breach of duty is not enough to prove malpractice. To be awarded damages, you need to prove that there is a direct connection between the breach of duty committed by the doctor and your injury or illness. This is known as causation. It can be a difficult connection to make in certain instances, but a knowledgeable malpractice lawsuit lawyer will work hard to uncover the evidence needed to prove the link.

Causation

A malpractice case only has validity when the plaintiff can prove that the defendant's negligent actions resulted in the loss and injuries. The process of proving medical negligence requires the use of expert testimony to prove that a relationship between the patient and the provider existed and that the service provider violated the acceptable standard of care. It is crucial that the victim's injuries must be directly related to the act or omission that violated the standard of medical care. This is called causality or proximate cause.

When proving legal malpractice it is essential to demonstrate that the lawyer's negligence had significant negative ramifications for you. You must be able show that the expenses of a lawsuit outweigh the losses. The plaintiff has to also prove that the negligence caused tangible and quantifiable damages.

Most malpractice cases go through an investigation process that involves oral depositions. Your lawyer can represent you during the depositions, asking questions of the defense experts to challenge their conclusions and to prove that the evidence supports your claims. It is imperative to have a seasoned medical malpractice attorney on your side because the four elements of malpractice, such as duty, breach, causation and harm, is time-consuming and complex. Your lawyer will guide you through each step. The more steps you fulfill the higher chance you have of winning your claim.

Damages

The amount of money a patient receives in a medical calumet park malpractice law firm case is based on the extent of their injury and the amount of money they require to pay medical bills and income loss or other financial losses. In some cases there are punitive damages that can be given to the plaintiff in retaliation for the malpractice of the doctor. However, these are extremely rare because doctors must have committed a deliberate or reckless act to be awarded punitive damages.

The law requires that anyone alleging medical malpractice prove four elements or legal requirements: (1) there was an obligation of care on the part of the physician; (2) the doctor breached this duty by deviating from the prevailing standards of practice; (3) as a result of the doctor's breach the victim was injured; and (4) the harm is measurable in terms of an amount in money. The person who suffered the injury must make a claim before the statute of limitations in effect, which varies from state to state.

The law recognizes that some medical malpractice claims can be expensive and complex to resolve, particularly if they involve complex questions like proximate reasons or the possibility of foreseeability. Its purpose is to ensure that victims receive the justice they deserve, without allowing frivolous and opportunistic lawsuits to delay the justice system. It also aims at reducing costs by requiring that all defendants bear the responsibility for the success of a lawsuit (joint and several liability) and Malpractice limiting the total amount a plaintiff is able to receive if other defendants don't have funds to pay ("damage caps) and stopping doctors from practicing defensive medicine, which entails altering their treatment plans due to the risk of malpractice lawsuits.