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How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who finds a foreign object such as surgical clamps within her body after gall bladder surgery can file a lawsuit for medical negligence. A successful claim has to prove the elements of medical malpractice: duty, deviance from the norm and direct cause.

Our clients must establish a direct link between the breach of duty and the injury. This is known as the proximate reason.

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice claim can be filed either by the injured person or a legal representative. This could be a spouse or adult child, parent, guardian or administrator of the estate of a deceased person, depending on the circumstances. In a medical malpractice case, the defendant is the health care provider. This could be an accredited nurse, doctor or therapist.

Expert testimony is often required in malpractice cases. Medical experts must be able to testify that the health care provider acted within the standard of care in his or her special area of expertise. They must also testify as to the harm that was caused by the actions or inactions of a doctor.

The injuries that result from malpractice and negligence can be extremely serious. A misdiagnosis could have grave consequences, such as a life-threatening condition. Other types of injuries include operating on the wrong body part or putting instruments inside the patient during surgery.

In order to establish a malpractice case the patient must prove four legal elements: a duty that the doctor owed them; a breach of this duty; a resultant injury and damages. In some states such as New York the law limits the amount of money that can be awarded in a malpractice case.

Causation

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

Many of the injuries that are the basis for medical negligence lawsuits result from chronic illnesses that existed before treatment started. The time-limit for medical malpractice cases can be extended over a period of time and injuries can develop slowly.

In these situations it can be difficult to prove that a particular medical professional's breach of the standards of care caused the injury. However, the aggrieved patient could be able to use the evidence gathered by the attorney, such as medical documents and expert testimony.

During the discovery process, which is a component of the legal process for preparing for trial, your lawyer could request disclosure of expert testimony as well as other documents from lawyers of the defendants. The doctor who is defending the lawsuit is then asked to give evidence during a deposition, which is the testimony under the oath. Your lawyer is able to cross-examine doctor and challenge the doctor's findings. The jury will decide then if the plaintiff has proven the essential elements of their claim, which includes duty, breach, causation and injury.

Negligence

When a medical malpractice claim is filed, the plaintiff will have to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the doctor did not perform his or her professional duties and that those breached duties caused injury. The plaintiff's lawyer must show this through evidence gathered through pretrial discovery, which includes asking for disclosure of documents such as roosevelt medical malpractice law firm records from all parties who are involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, in which statements are made under oath and recorded for use in trial, are also a part of this procedure.

A doctor breached his or her professional obligations when he or she did something that a reasonable prudent physician would not do under the same circumstances. It must be proven that the breach caused injury directly to the patient. This is known as causation or proximate causes. A patient could go to the hospital to have a hernia fixed, however, they end up having their gall bladder removed. This is medical malpractice because the removal of the gall bladder was not beneficial to the patient.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within a legally-defined period of time, called the statute of limitations, which is different for each state. The victim must demonstrate that the treatment was substandard and caused injury, and they have to prove the amount of compensation they deserve.

Damages

You deserve to be compensated for any injuries you've suffered due to medical negligence. Scaffidi & Associates can help you receive fair and full compensation for your losses.

The first step in a lawsuit is to file and serve a complaint along with summons and other papers on all defendants. The parties then engage in discovery. This is which involves the disclosure of documents and statements presented under an oath. During discovery medical records and notes from a doctor will usually be requested.

In most states, you have to prove four things in order to be compensated for injuries incurred by newman medical malpractice lawyer malpractice such as a duty due to the healthcare provider; a breach of that obligation; a causal connection between the breach and the patient's injury and damages resulting from the injury. If your lawyer can prove all of these elements, then you've got a strong case for financial recovery in a medical malpractice claim.

In some cases the court might award punitive damage that is designed to punish a wrongdoer, and discourage others from committing similar conduct. However, this is rare in medical malpractice cases, since courts require evident proof of malice in order to award these awe-inspiring awards.