Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Attorneys have a fiduciary obligation with their clients and are required to conduct themselves with diligence, care and expertise. However, just like any other professional attorneys make mistakes.
The mistakes made by an attorney are considered to be malpractice. To prove negligence in a legal sense the person who was hurt must prove the breach of duty, obligation, causation, and damages. Let's review each of these aspects.
Duty-Free
Doctors and medical professionals take an oath that they will use their skill and training to cure patients, not cause additional harm. The legal right of a patient to compensation for injuries sustained from medical malpractice hinges on the concept of the duty of care. Your attorney can help you determine whether or not your doctor's actions violated this duty of care, and whether these breaches resulted in injury or illness to you.
To establish a duty of care, your lawyer needs to prove that a medical professional has an agreement with you, in which they were bound by a fiduciary duty to perform their duties with a reasonable level of competence and care. This can be proved by eyewitness testimony, physician-patient records, and expert testimony of doctors who have similar educational, experience and training.
Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the medical professional breached their duty of care by not submitting to the accepted standards of practice in their area of expertise. This is often called negligence. Your lawyer will compare the defendant's behavior to what a reasonable person would take in the same scenario.
Finally, your lawyer must prove that the defendant's lapse of duty directly caused damage or loss to you. This is referred to as causation. Your attorney will rely on evidence such as your doctor-patient documents, witness statements and expert testimony to demonstrate that the defendant's inability to meet the standard of care in your case was the direct cause of your loss or injury.
Breach
A doctor has a duty of care for his patients that corresponds to professional medical standards. If a doctor fails meet those standards and fails to do so causes injury, then negligence and medical
malpractice law firm might occur. Expert testimony from medical professionals who have the same training, certifications and skills can help determine the standard of care for a specific situation. State and federal laws, along with institute policies, determine what doctors are required to provide for specific types of patients.
To win a malpractice claim, it must be proven that the doctor breached his or her duty to take care of patients and that the breach was the sole cause of an injury. This is known in legal terms as the causation factor and it is crucial that it be established. If a doctor is required to conduct an x-ray examination of a broken arm, they have to put the arm in a casting and correctly place it. If the doctor is unable to complete this task and the patient loses their use of the arm, malpractice may have occurred.
Causation
Attorney malpractice claims rely on the evidence that proves that the lawyer's errors resulted in financial losses for the client. For example, if a lawyer fails to file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, which results in the case being lost forever the person who was injured could bring legal
malpractice lawsuits.
It's important to recognize that not all mistakes by attorneys are malpractice. Errors involving strategy and planning are not usually considered to be
malpractice lawyer attorneys have lots of freedom to make judgement calls so long as they are reasonable.
Likewise, the law gives attorneys considerable leeway to fail to conduct discovery on behalf of the behalf of their clients, as long as it was not unreasonable or negligent. Failing to discover important information or documents like medical reports or
Malpractice lawsuits witness statements could be a sign of legal malpractice. Other examples of malpractice are a failure to add certain claims or defendants such as omitting to make a survival claim in a case of wrongful death or the consistent and long-running inability to contact a client.
It's also important to note that it must be proven that, had it not been the negligence of the lawyer, the plaintiff would have won the case. In the event that it is not, the plaintiff's claim for malpractice will be rejected. This requirement makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. Therefore, it's crucial to hire an experienced attorney to represent you.
Damages
A plaintiff must show that the attorney's actions caused actual financial losses in order to prevail in a legal malpractice suit. In a lawsuit, this must be proven with evidence like expert testimony or correspondence between the client and attorney. In addition the plaintiff has to prove that a reasonable lawyer would have prevented the harm caused by the negligence of the attorney. This is referred to as proximate cause.
Malpractice can manifest in a number of different ways. Some of the most common malpractices include: failing a deadline or statute of limitations; not performing an examination of a conflict on an instance; applying the law improperly to a client's situation; or breaking a fiduciary obligation (i.e. the commingling of trust account funds with an attorney's personal accounts) or a mishandling of a case, and
malpractice lawsuits not communicating with clients.
In the majority of medical malpractice cases, the plaintiff will seek compensation damages. These compensate the victim for the expenses out of pocket and losses, like medical and hospital bills, costs of equipment that aids in recovering, and lost wages. Victims can also claim non-economic damages such as pain and discomfort or loss of enjoyment in their lives, and emotional distress.
Legal malpractice cases usually involve claims for compensatory and punitive damages. The former compensates victims for the loss resulting from the negligence of the attorney, whereas the latter is designed to deter any future malpractice committed by the defendant.