How to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

A patient who believes that he or medical malpractice lawsuit she suffered a loss due to a mistake made by a healthcare provider may file a lawsuit for medical malpractice. These cases differ from other personal injury claims in that they use the standards of professional care to determine negligence.

In the United States, malpractice claims are resolved through state trial courts. Each state has its laws and procedures.

Duty of care

A doctor, surgeon, nurse or any other health care professional is required to provide care to their patients. This legal concept basically states that any health care professional treating you has a duty to uphold the accepted medical practices, without deviation or omission.

The medical standard of care is the legal benchmark against which all medical malpractice claims are evaluated. It is vital to a successful lawsuit, since it lays out a specific way for the injured party and Medical Malpractice lawsuit their attorney to prove negligence by proving that a health care professional failed to meet the standards of care.

Proving the standard of care usually requires the assistance of a qualified medical expert witness. These experts are vital to establishing the relevant medical standards of care and how that standard was breached by the defendants in a medical negligence case.

It is also essential to prove that this breach of duty directly caused your injury, illness or death. In medical malpractice cases, damages can include hospital bills and lost income and future earning capacity, pain, suffering, and even punitive damages. Your lawyer must establish the amount of the damages, which could exceed your original medical malpractice attorney expenses. This is a little easier in certain instances than in other. Many doctors work at hospitals that give them staff privileges, and in those situations, a physician's employer could be held accountable through theories of vicarious liability.

Breach of duty

A physician is responsible to the patient the obligation to act in accordance to medical standards of care when providing treatment or services. A patient who is injured by a doctor's negligence could file a malpractice claim.

Medical negligence can include an array of actions such as errors in diagnosis, dosage of medication, health management, treatments and aftercare. A lawsuit can be considered valid if the plaintiff can demonstrate four legal elements. These are:

First, there must be a trusting relationship between the doctor and the patient. The doctor has a responsibility to inform patients about any risks or complications that could be associated with the procedure. In the absence of this, it could cause the physician to be held accountable for malpractice, even if the procedure was executed perfectly. For instance, if a doctor did not warn patients that a certain operation had an opportunity of losing 30% of limbs, a patient could not reasonably have agreed to the procedure.

The second element that must be proved is a breach of the standard of care. To do this, the lawyer needs to have testimony from an expert witness to establish that the physician was not following the standard of care. It must also be proven that the breach of standard of care caused the patient's injuries.

The court system can be slow to resolve medical negligence cases. This is because it requires a long period of time by the physician and attorney, along with extensive research and interviews with experts and a thorough study of medical and legal literature. A doctor facing a malpractice lawsuit must pay substantial court costs, attorney's work product and costs, and expenses for expert testimony.

Causation

All healthcare professionals including nurses, doctors and other healthcare providers are humans and will make mistakes. When these mistakes reach the level of medical negligence, patients can suffer severe and life-altering injuries. Proving that a health care provider committed a breach of his or his or her duty and caused an injury requires medical and legal knowledge. A successful claim requires four legal elements to be proven such as a relationship between a doctor and patient that is based on the doctor's duty to duty of care to the patient, the breach of this duty, and then the injury caused by the breach.

It must also be proved that the doctor's deviance from the standard of care was the direct and primary cause of the injury. The legal standard for this factor is higher than "beyond a reasonable doubt" required in criminal cases. The plaintiff's lawyer must convince the jury/fact-finder that it is more than likely that the physician's negligence caused the injury.

A medical expert is often needed early in the process to determine the validity of all these elements. According to Rhode Island law only doctors with a sufficient degree of education, training and experience in the field of suspected malpractice are able to give expert testimony. This is why choosing an expert medical malpractice lawyer professional who is competent is an essential element of the malpractice case.

Damages

A medical malpractice lawsuit aims to collect damages, which comprise the future and past expenses resulting from an injury. These expenses could include hospital bills doctors' visits, hospital bills, pain and suffering and lost wages. The jury will decide on the amount of damages to be awarded based on evidence presented.

The plaintiff or their lawyer must demonstrate four legal elements during the trial: (1) the physician was obligated to them; (2) the doctor did not fulfill this duty due to negligence; (3) the doctor’s negligence caused injury; (4) the injury resulted in measurable damages. A doctor's work is not considered to be malpractice if you're unhappy with it. But, there need to be an injury. An expert in medical practice can determine whether a physician has deviated from standard medical practice.

The legal process for a malpractice case may last for several years. This is because "discovery" involves the exchange of documents and the sworn declarations of the parties involved. While many cases settle before reaching the courtrooms, a portion of these claims go all the way to an appeal to a jury and a verdict.

To reduce the risk of liability for malpractice Some states have taken a number legislative and administrative measures collectively referred to as tort reform. Additionally, a handful of states have implemented alternative dispute resolution schemes such as voluntary binding arbitration. These alternatives to civil litigation are designed to reduce costs of litigation, speed up the process of settling malpractice claims, reduce the number of generous juries, and screen out frivolous claims.