Medical Malpractice Settlement Strategies That Will Change Your Life

How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who discovers an object foreign to her like surgical clamps, remain inside her body after gall bladder surgery may bring a medical malpractice lawsuit. A successful claim has to prove the elements of medical malpractice: duty, deviance from the duty, and direct cause.

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

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed by the person who suffered the injury or an attorney. Based on the specific circumstances, this could be a spouse of the patient, an adult child or parent, a guardian ad litem or the executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased patient. The plaintiff in a lawsuit for medical malpractice is the health care provider. It could be a licensed nurse, doctor or therapist.

Malpractice cases usually involve the testimony of experts. Medical experts are required to be able to testify that the health care provider performed his duties in accordance with the standard of care in their specific field of expertise. They must also testify to the harm that was caused by the doctor's actions or inactions.

The injuries that result from malpractice and negligence can be quite severe. For instance, a wrong diagnosis of a medical condition could have life-threatening consequences. Other kinds of injuries involve operating on the wrong body part or putting surgical instruments in the patient.

In order to prove a malpractice claim the patient has to prove four legal elements: a duty the doctor owed them; a breach of the breach; a resulting injury; and damages. In some states, such as New York, the law puts a limit on amount that can be awarded in a malpractice claim.

Causation

The injury element is known as the causation. It is one of most important elements in a medical malpractice lawyers malpractice claim. To prove causation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that their injury was caused by the doctor's negligence. This can be a difficult task due to a variety of reasons.

Many of the injuries that are the basis for a medical negligence lawsuit stem from long-term illnesses or illnesses that existed before treatment began. Often, the statute of limitations for a claim involving medical malpractice extends over a variety of years, and the injuries may develop slowly.

In these instances it is difficult to prove that a medical professional's violation of the standard of care that led to the injury is not easy. The attorney may have gathered evidence, like expert testimony and medical records which the injured patient can use.

During the discovery process that is part of the legal procedure for prepping for a trial your lawyer may request that the lawyers of the defendants provide expert testimony and other documents. The doctor who is defending the case will be required to give deposition. This is a declaration that is made under the oath. Your lawyer will be able to cross-examine doctor and challenge the doctor's findings. The jury will decide whether the plaintiff has proved that the allegations of the case are true including breach of duty, breach of contract and causation.

Negligence

The plaintiff must convince jurors, when bringing a claim for medical malpractice to show that it is likely that the doctor did not fulfill his or her duties as a doctor and that these actions led to injury. The plaintiff's lawyer must demonstrate this by presenting evidence through pretrial discovery, which entails the disclosure of documents, including medical records from all parties involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, in which statements are made under oath, and recorded for trial, are also a part of this procedure.

A doctor was in breach of the professional duties of a doctor if he or she did something that a reasonable prudent physician would not do in similar circumstances. However it must be established that the breach directly caused the injury to the patient. This is referred to as causation, or the proximate cause. A patient may visit the hospital to have a hernia repaired, but end up having their gall bladder removed. This is medical malpractice as the removal of the gall bladder did not benefit the patient.

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

Damages

If a medical error has caused you to suffer a traumatic injury, you are entitled to be made whole. Scaffidi & Associates can help you receive full and fair compensation for your losses.

The first step is to file and serve an order and medical malpractice lawsuit complaint on all defendants named in the lawsuit. The parties then participate in discovery, a process in which documents and statements are revealed under an oath. During discovery, medical malpractice compensation records and doctor's notes will typically be sought.

In most states, to receive compensation for injuries caused by negligence, you must to establish four elements including a duty of good faith that the healthcare provider is obligated to perform, a breach of this obligation; a causal connection between the breach and injury and damages that result from the injury. If your lawyer can prove all of these aspects of a medical malpractice attorney negligence claim, you will have a convincing case.

In certain instances, a court may give punitive damages, which are designed to punish the offender and deter others from engaging in similar misconduct. But, this isn't often the case in medical malpractice cases, as courts require clear evidence of malice to make these extraordinary awards.