Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Attorneys have a fiduciary responsibilities to their clients, and they must act with a degree of diligence, skill and care. Attorneys make mistakes, just like every other professional.
Not every mistake made by an attorney constitutes malpractice. To prove legal malpractice, an aggrieved party has to prove that there was breach of duty, causation, breach and damage. Let's look at each of these elements.
Duty-Free
Doctors and other medical professionals swear to use their education and experience to treat patients and not to cause harm to others. A patient's legal right to be compensated for injuries sustained from medical malpractice hinges on the concept of duty of care. Your attorney can determine if the actions of your doctor violated the duty of care and whether these violations resulted in your injury or illness.
Your lawyer has to prove that the medical professional you hired owed an obligation of fiduciary to act with reasonable competence and care. To prove that the relationship existed, you may require evidence, such as the records of your doctor and patient or eyewitness evidence, or experts from doctors with similar experiences, education and training.
Your lawyer will also have to establish that the medical professional breached their duty of care by failing to follow the accepted standards of their area of expertise. This is typically known as negligence. Your lawyer will be able to compare what the defendant did to what a reasonable person would do in a similar situation.
In addition, your lawyer must prove that the defendant's lapse of duty directly caused damage or loss to you. This is known as causation. Your attorney will use evidence like your medical or patient reports, witness testimony and expert testimony, to show that the defendant's failure to meet the standard of care was the primary reason for the loss or injury to you.
Breach
A doctor is obligated to patients to perform duties of care that conform to professional standards in medical practice. If a doctor fails to meet those standards and that failure causes injury, then negligence and medical malpractice might occur. Expert witness testimony from medical professionals that have similar training, certifications as well as experience and qualifications can help determine the appropriate level of care in any given situation. Federal and state laws, along with guidelines from the institute, help define what doctors are expected to do for certain kinds of patients.
To win a malpractice case it must be proven that the doctor breached his or his duty of care and that the breach was a direct cause of an injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation factor and it is crucial to establish. For example in the event that a damaged arm requires an xray the doctor must set the arm and place it in a cast to ensure proper healing. If the physician failed to do this and the patient was left with an unavoidable loss of the use of the arm, then
malpractice may have occurred.
Causation
Attorney malpractice claims rely on the evidence that proves that the lawyer's mistakes caused financial losses to the client. For example when a lawyer fails to file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, which results in the case being lost for ever and the victim can bring legal malpractice actions.
It is important to recognize that not all errors made by attorneys are malpractice. Mistakes in strategy and planning do not typically constitute malpractice, and attorneys have a lot of latitude to make decisions based on their judgments as long as they're reasonable.
The law also gives attorneys the right to conduct discovery on the behalf of their clients, as in the event that it is not negligent or unreasonable. The failure to discover crucial documents or facts, such as medical reports or statements of witnesses, is a potential example of legal malpractice. Other examples of malpractice include a failure to add certain defendants or claims such as omitting to file a survival count in a wrongful death case or the continual and persistent failure to contact the client.
It's also important to keep in mind that it has to be proven that but the lawyer's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the underlying case. Otherwise, the plaintiff's claim for malpractice will be denied. This makes bringing legal
malpractice claims difficult. It's essential to choose an experienced attorney to represent you.
Damages
In order to prevail in a legal malpractice lawsuit, a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses that result from the actions of an attorney. This should be proved in a lawsuit using evidence like expert testimony, correspondence between the client and attorney, billing records and other records. In addition the plaintiff must show that a reasonable lawyer could have avoided the harm caused by the negligence of the attorney. This is known as proximate cause.
Malpractice can occur in many different ways. Some of the most common types of malpractice include the failure to meet a deadline, such as the statute of limitations, failing to perform a conflict check or other due diligence of a case,
malpractice improperly applying the law to the client's situation or breaching a fiduciary obligation (i.e. Commingling funds from a trust account the attorney's personal accounts, mishandling a case and failing to communicate with the client are all examples of malpractice.
Medical malpractice lawsuits typically involve claims for compensatory damages. They compensate the victim for expenses out of pocket and losses, for example hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment needed to aid in recovery, and loss of wages. Victims are also able to claim non-economic damages, such as pain and discomfort as well as loss of enjoyment from their lives, as well as emotional distress.
Legal malpractice cases often involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The former compensates the victim for losses resulting from the attorney's negligence, while the latter is designed to deter future malpractice by the defendant.