How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

If a patient discovers that a foreign object like surgical clamps, is still inside her body following gall bladder surgery could pursue a medical malpractice suit. A successful claim must establish the legal aspects of medical negligence: duty, deviance from this duty, direct causes, and injury.

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

Cause of Injury

A medical malpractice claim may be filed either by the victim or a legal representative. This could be the spouse, adult child, parent, guardian or administrator of the estate of a deceased patient depending on the circumstances. The defendant in a suit for rogersville medical malpractice law firm negligence is the health care provider. This could be a doctor, nurse, therapist or any other health care professional.

Expert testimony is typically required in cases of malpractice. Medical experts are required to testify on whether or not the health care provider adhered to the standards of care for their specific area. They also have to testify about the injury caused by the doctor's actions or inactions.

Accidents caused by negligence or negligence can be very serious. For instance, a wrong diagnosis of a medical condition could have life-threatening consequences. Other types of injuries include operating on the wrong part or leaving instruments inside the patient during surgery.

In order to prove a malpractice claim the patient has to prove four legal elements: a duty that the doctor owed to them; a breach in this duty; a subsequent injury; and damages. In certain states, like New York the law limits the amount of money that can be awarded for a malpractice claim.

Causation

The injury element is called the causation. It is one of most important aspects of a medical malpractice claim. To establish causation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that their injury was caused by a physician's negligence. This can be a challenging task due to a variety of reasons.

Many of the injuries that are the basis of a medical negligence suit result from long-term illnesses or conditions that existed prior to when treatment began. Often, the statute of limitations for a medical negligence claim extends over a variety of years and the injuries may develop slowly.

In these cases the proof that a medical professional's failure to adhere to the standard of care and led to the injury is a challenge. However, the person who was harmed may be able to use evidence gathered by the attorney, including medical documents and expert testimony.

During the discovery procedure that is part of the legal procedure for preparing for a trial, your attorney can request that the lawyers of the defendants provide expert testimony and other documents. The doctor defending the lawsuit is then asked to give evidence during deposition, which is the testimony under oath. Your lawyer may cross-examine the doctor and contest the doctor's findings. The jury will then decide whether the plaintiff has established the essential elements of their claim, which includes duty, breach, causation and injury.

Negligence

When a medical negligence claim is filed in court, the plaintiff must to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the physician breached his or her professional duties and that the breaches resulted in injuries. The plaintiff's attorney must demonstrate this through evidence gathered during discovery. This involves seeking documents, such as medical records as well as other documents from all parties in a lawsuit. Depositions, in which the statements are made under oath, and recorded to be used at trial, are also a part of this process.

A doctor violated his or her professional obligation if he or she did something that a reasonably prudent physician would not do under similar circumstances. It must be proven that the breach resulted in injury directly to the patient. This is referred to as causation, or the proximate cause. For example when a patient is taken to the hospital for a hernia operation and ends up having his or his gall bladder removed instead. This is medical negligence since the procedure did not benefit the patient.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within a certain time frame, also known as the statute of limitations. This differs from state-to-state. The victim must prove that the substandard care caused injury, and then show how much compensation he or she deserves.

Damages

If medical negligence has caused you to suffer an injury, you should be compensated. At Scaffidi & Associates, we can assist you to receive the full and fair compensation for your loss.

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 in which documents and statements are disclosed under the oath. During discovery medical records and notes from a doctor will typically be sought.

In most states, in order to receive compensation for injuries caused by negligence, you must to establish four elements: a duty of care that the healthcare provider is obligated to perform, a breach of this duty; a causal link between the breach and injury; and damages resultant from the injury. If your attorney can establish all of these elements, you can make a an argument for financial recovery in a aspen Medical malpractice Attorney malpractice claim.

In certain instances, the court may give punitive damages that is designed to punish the perpetrator and discourage others from committing similar acts. However, this is not the norm in medical malpractice cases as courts require specific proof of malice to award these extraordinary awards.