Medical Malpractice Litigation
Medical malpractice litigation is a complex and time-consuming. Both defendants and plaintiffs are also required to pay a high price.
To receive compensation in the form of monetary damages for malpractice, the patient must establish that the substandard medical treatment that they received caused their injury. This involves establishing four legal elements which include professional duty and breach of duty or breach, injury, and damages.
Discovery
The most crucial aspect of a medical malpractice case is the gathering of evidence. This can be accomplished through written interrogatories or requests for documents. Interrogatories are questions that need to be answered under an oath by the opposition to the lawsuit and are used to establish the facts for presentation at trial. Requests for production of documents allow for tangible items to be retrieved for example, medical records or test results.
In many cases, your attorney will take the defendant physician's deposition which is an audio recording of a question and answer session. This allows your attorney to ask the witness or physician questions that wouldn't be allowed during trial. It can be extremely useful in cases with expert witnesses.
The information you gather during pretrial discovery is used at trial to prove the following aspects of your claim:
Breach of the standard of care
Injury resulting from a violation of the standard of care
Proximate causation
Inability of a doctor to apply the level of expertise and knowledge held by doctors in their field. This caused injury or harm to the patient
Mediation
Medical malpractice trials can be necessary but they also have many drawbacks. For plaintiffs, the stress, expense, and the time commitment associated with a trial can affect their psychological well-being on them. A trial can lead to humiliation and a loss of respect for health professionals who are defendants. It can also cause negative consequences for their work and career as the financial payments that are made in a pre-trial settlement are usually reported to national practitioner databanks as well as state medical licensing boards, and medical societies.
Mediation is a cheaper, time-efficient, and risk-effective method to settle cases of medical negligence. The parties can negotiate more freely when they do not have the expense of a trial, and the possibility of jury verdicts to be diminished.
Before mediation, both sides are required to provide the mediator with brief details about the case (a "mediation brief"). In this stage, parties will usually communicate through their lawyer, not directly with one another. Direct communication could be used as evidence in court. As the mediation process progresses, it is best to concentrate on the strengths of your case and be ready to acknowledge its weaknesses as well. This will allow the mediator to fill any gaps and give an acceptable offer.
Trial
The goal of reformers working on torts is to develop a system that compensates those who suffer injuries due to physician negligence in a timely manner and without excessive cost. Numerous states have implemented tort reform measures to lower costs and stop the filing of frivolous claims for medical malpractice.
Most doctors in the United States carry malpractice insurance to protect themselves against claims of professional negligence
medical malpractice lawsuits cases. Certain of these policies could be required by a hospital or medical group as a condition for privileges.
To claim compensation for injuries resulting from a medical practitioner’s negligence, the injured patient must prove that the doctor's actions did not meet the standards of care that is applicable to his or her profession. This is referred to as the proximate cause and is an essential element in a medical malpractice case.
A lawsuit begins when a civil summons is filed with the appropriate court. Once this is completed the parties must then engage in the process of disclosure. This includes written interrogatories as well as the issuance of documents, including
medical malpractice attorney records. Depositions are also involved (deponents are challenged by attorneys under an oath) and requests for admission which are statements made by one side that the other wants the other side to admit, either in full or in part.
In a medical malpractice case the burden of proof is very high. Damages are awarded based on economic losses (such as lost income or the costs of a future medical procedure) and noneconomic damages like pain and discomfort. It is important to consult with an experienced attorney when trying to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Settlement
Settlements are the most commonly used way to settle
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 then given to the plaintiff's lawyer who deposit it into an Escrow account. The lawyer then deducts the case costs and legal fees as per the representation agreement, and then the injured patient receives compensation.
In order to prevail in a medical negligence case, the aggrieved patient has to establish that a physician or other healthcare provider had a duty to care, breached this duty by failing apply the necessary level of knowledge and expertise in their field, that as a direct result of that breach, the victim sustained injury, and these injuries are quantifiable by the amount of money lost.
The United States has a system of 94 federal district courts, which are essentially state trial courts. each of these courts has jurors and a judge which decides on cases. In limited circumstances, a medical malpractice case could be transferred to one of these courts. Physicians in the United States typically carry medical malpractice insurance to guard themselves against claims of unintentional harm or wrongdoing. Doctors must be aware of structure and operation of our legal system to react appropriately if there is a case brought against them.