Medical Malpractice Litigation
Medical malpractice lawsuits can be complicated and time-consuming. Both defendants and plaintiffs are also required to pay a substantial price.
In order to obtain financial compensation in a medical malpractice lawsuit, the injured patient must prove that negligent medical care caused injury. This requires establishing four pillars of law that include a professional obligation, breach of this duty, injury and damages.
Discovery
The most important aspect of a medical negligence case is the gathering of evidence. This can be accomplished by means of written interrogatories or requests for documents. Interrogatories are composed of questions to which the opposing side must answer under oath. They are utilized for establishing the facts to be presented at trial. Documents that are requested to be produced permit tangible evidence to be obtained such as medical records or test results.
In many instances, your lawyer will take the defendant physician's deposition, which is recorded as a question-and-answer session. This permits your attorney to ask the doctor or witness questions that wouldn't be allowed at trial and is extremely effective in a case involving expert witnesses.
The information gathered in discovery before trial will be used to prove your claim in court.
Breach of the standard of care
Injuries caused by a breach of the standard of care
Proximate causation
A doctor's inability to utilize the level of expertise and knowledge held by doctors in their field of specialization and that resulted in injury to a patient
Mediation
While medical malpractice trials can be required, they come with significant negatives for both parties. For plaintiffs the pressure, cost and the commitment to trial can affect their psychological well-being on them. For defendant health professionals trials can result in humiliation and loss of prestige. It can also cause negative effects on their career and practice since the financial settlements made as part of a pretrial settlement are usually reported to national databanks for practitioners and state medical licensing boards, and medical societies.
Mediation is the most cost-effective, efficient, and risk-free method of settling a medical malpractice claim. The cost of trial and the risk of loss of jury verdicts, mediation allows both parties to be more flexible in settlement negotiations.
Both parties must give brief details of the case to the mediator prior mediation (a "mediation short"). The parties usually allow their communication to go through their lawyer instead of directly between themselves at this stage, as direct communications can be used against them later on in court. As the mediation continues, it is best to focus on the strengths of your case and be prepared to acknowledge its weaknesses as well. This will enable the mediator to fill the gaps and make you a reasonable offer.
Trial
The aim of those who work on tort reform is to create a system that compensates those who suffer injury due to medical negligence in a timely fashion and at a reasonable cost. While this isn't easy some states have enacted tort reforms to reduce costs and prevent frivolous medical malpractice claims.
The majority of physicians in the United States carry malpractice insurance to safeguard themselves from accusations of professional negligence in medical cases. Certain of these policies are required as a condition for hospital privileges or employment in a medical group.
In order to obtain the financial compensation for injuries caused by a medical practitioner's negligence, an injured patient must prove that the doctor did not adhere to the appropriate standard of care in his or her area of expertise. This concept is known as proximate causation, and is an essential element in a medical malpractice case.
A lawsuit is initiated when a civil summons is filed in the court of your choice. After that the parties must participate in a disclosure process. This involves writing interrogatories and the production of documents such as
medical malpractice law firms records. Depositions (in which attorneys challenge deponents under an oath) and requests for admission are also involved.
The burden of proof in a medical malpractice case is extremely high. The damages awarded are based on the economic losses that are actual like lost income and the cost of future medical care and non-economic losses such as suffering and pain. If you are pursuing a claim for medical malpractice, it's essential to work with an experienced lawyer.
Settlement
Settlements are the most common way to resolve
medical malpractice lawsuits. In general, the actual dollar value of a case is negotiated between the plaintiff and the defendants (often through or alongside the defendant's malpractice/professional liability insurer). The result is an amount for the injured patient, which is paid to the plaintiff's lawyer who deposit it into an Escrow account. The attorney then deducts case costs and legal fees according to the representation agreement, and then pays the injured person payment.
To prevail in a medical negligence case, the patient who has suffered must establish that a physician or other healthcare provider was bound by a duty of care, and then violated that duty by failing use the appropriate degree of knowledge and competence in their field, and that as a direct result of that breach, the victim sustained injury, and these injuries are quantifiable in terms of monetary loss.
In the United States, there are 94 federal district courts that are comparable to state trial courts. Each of these courts has an ad-hoc jury and judge panel, which hears cases. In certain situations the case of medical negligence may be transferred to one of the federal district courts. In the United States, physicians carry medical malpractice insurance as a way to protect themselves from lawsuits for harm caused by negligence. Physicians must understand the nature and function of our legal system in order to respond appropriately if a claim is brought against them.