Medical Malpractice Law
Medical malpractice cases are injuries that result from the negligence of an healthcare professional. There are a variety of laws that apply to these cases and
medical malpractice lawsuit include statutes of limitation and damages.
A patient is not treated with the same degree of care that other doctors would in similar circumstances. The most common form of malpractice is misdiagnosis and surgical errors.
Complaint
Medical malpractice is a subset of tort law which is a part of the law that deals with professional negligence. It is defined as any act or omission committed by a physician that deviates from accepted standards of practice in the medical profession and results in an injury to the patient [2223.
If you've suffered injuries due to hospital malpractice, your lawsuit starts by filing a complaint in civil court. In this paper, you state the facts of your case. You also list the hospital and name any doctors who were involved with you. You may want to agree up front that no health care providers are mentioned in the lawsuit. This is known as a "no name agreement".
Then you write down the injuries and the dollar amount associated to each. Included are future and past medical costs, lost income because of being unable to work, pain and discomfort as well as any other losses that you have suffered as a result the negligence of the doctor. These documents should be delivered as soon as you can to your lawyers so they can begin a thorough review.
Summons
If you think you've been injured as a result of medical negligence, your lawyer drafts an accusation and summons and has them filed with the court. The clerk of the court assigns a unique identifying number to the case. This is referred to as the index number and it will be used to track the case as it moves its way through the courts.
A lawsuit takes a lot of time, effort and funds by the attorney representing the plaintiff. These funds are essential to finance legal discovery and expert testimony by doctors. Even in the event that the
medical malpractice lawsuit is not successful the case will cost the attorney a large deal of time and work product.
A lawsuit must demonstrate that the health professional breached a legal obligation; this breach caused harm to the patient and that the injury is serious enough to warrant legal redress. In the United States, a patient must prove four elements or legal requirements for a valid medical malpractice claim to be considered a valid one: the existence of a duty; breach of that duty; damages; and causation. Medical malpractice claims are governed by state law, however in certain instances the case can be transferred to federal district courts.
Discovery
The formal discovery process begins after a civil summons is filed in the court of jurisdiction. Your medical malpractice lawyer will be spending much of the time collecting evidence for the case. This could include reviewing medical records with the services of a medical review company.
This is an essential step in the legal process as it can help your attorney discover vital information that can support your claim. But, it's also one of the longest-running elements of a medical negligence lawsuit.
At the pretrial discovery phase the attorney will request certain documents and interrogatories from the defendants in your case. The defendants will be given the chance to respond to these requests. These questions are posed under an oath and must be addressed honestly. These questions are used by defendants to raise defenses against your case. It is crucial to choose an attorney for medical malpractice with experience. They can ensure that all necessary evidence is presented in a manner that is easy for juries and judges to comprehend.
Request for Admission
Before a
medical malpractice attorneys malpractice lawsuit is filed, many states require that the injured patient submit the case to a panel of medical experts who will hear arguments and review evidence and expert testimony in order to determine if the patient's claim is sufficient to go forward. The statute of limitations is an act that requires
medical malpractice lawsuits to be filed in a specified timeframe.
To allow the legal team of a patient's lawyer to be able to present a medical negligence claim, it must be shown that the medical professional was not in compliance with the accepted standards of care in his or her particular area of expertise. This is also referred to as the standard of the health care measurement. It is vital that the legal team representing the injured patient is able pinpoint specific examples of deviations from this standard.
Trial
To prove malpractice, a patient needs to show that: (1) the doctor owed her a professional duty of care; (2) the physician breached this duty by violating the standard of care; (3) this breach resulted in injury; and (4) the injury resulted in damages. This requirement requires expert testimony from a medical professional in order to aid jurors in understanding the the applicable medical standards. It is often challenging for a patient who has been injured and her legal team to bridge the gap between the knowledge and experience of an ordinary juror and the highly specific knowledge and expertise needed to determine if there is a case of malpractice.
Malpractice claims can be filed in the state trial court that is the court with jurisdiction over the case. However, in some situations, they can be filed in federal district courts. Both trial courts are subject to the same laws as other civil litigants. The depositions of the defendant physicians are usually scheduled in the course of which attorneys from each side have the opportunity to ask questions. Following a direct examination, the opposing attorney may cross-examine a witness physician. The process continues until the questions from both sides are answered.