Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Attorneys have a fiduciary duty to their clients and they must behave with a degree of diligence, skill and care. Attorneys make mistakes, as do other professional.
The mistakes made by an attorney is legal malpractice. To prove legal malpractice, an aggrieved party must show that there was breach of duty, causation, breach and damage. Let's review each of these elements.
Duty
Doctors and other medical professionals swear by their training and experience to treat patients and not cause further harm. A patient's legal right to compensation for injuries suffered from medical malpractice hinges on the concept of duty of care. Your attorney can assist you determine if your doctor's actions breached this duty of care, and if these breaches resulted in injury or illness to you.
To prove a duty to care, your lawyer will need to demonstrate that a medical professional had a legal relationship with you, in which they owed you a fiduciary responsibility to act with a reasonable level of skill and care. The proof of this relationship may require evidence such as your doctor-patient records or eyewitness evidence, or experts from doctors with similar experiences, education and training.
Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the medical professional violated their duty of care by failing to adhere to the standards of practice that are accepted in their area of expertise. This is often called negligence. Your attorney will evaluate the defendant's conduct with what a reasonable person would take in the same scenario.
In addition, your lawyer must demonstrate that the defendant's breach of duty directly led to damage or loss to you. This is referred to as causation. Your lawyer will use evidence like your doctor or patient records, witness testimony, and expert testimony, to prove that the defendant's failure meet the standards of care was the sole cause of injury or loss to you.
Breach
A doctor has a duty of care to his patients which is in line with professional medical standards. If a doctor does not meet those standards, and the result is an injury, then medical malpractice or negligence could occur. Expert testimony from medical professionals who have the same training, certifications, skills and experience can help determine the quality of care in any given situation. State and federal laws as well as institute policies also help define what doctors must do for certain types of patients.
To prevail in a
malpractice lawsuit, it must be proven that the doctor acted in violation of his or her duty of care and that the violation was the primary cause of an injury. This is known in
legal terms as the causation component and it is essential that it is established. For example, if a broken arm requires an xray the doctor must properly fix the arm and place it in a cast for proper healing. If the doctor fails to do this and the patient suffers a permanent loss of use of the arm, malpractice could have occurred.
Causation
Legal malpractice claims are based on the evidence that the lawyer made errors that resulted in financial losses to the client. For example the lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, which results in the case being lost forever and the victim can bring legal malpractice actions.
However, it's important to realize that not all errors made by attorneys are illegal. Strategies and planning errors are not typically considered to be misconduct. Attorneys have a broad range of discretion in making decisions, as long as they're able to make them in a reasonable manner.
Additionally, the law grants attorneys considerable leeway to fail to conduct a discovery process on a client's behalf, as long as the action was not unreasonable or negligent. The failure to discover crucial facts or documents, 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 claims or defendants such as failing to include a survival count in a wrongful death lawsuit or the consistent and long-running failure to contact a client.
It is also important to note the fact that the plaintiff must prove that if not due to the lawyer's negligent behavior they would have won their case. The claim of the plaintiff for malpractice will be dismissed when it isn't proven. This makes bringing legal malpractice claims difficult. It is essential to choose an experienced attorney.
Damages
In order to prevail in a legal malpractice suit, a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses caused by the actions of an attorney. In the case of a lawsuit this has to be proven through evidence, like expert testimony or correspondence between the attorney and client. In addition the plaintiff must show that a reasonable lawyer could have prevented the damage caused by the attorney's negligence. This is referred to as the proximate cause.
The definition of malpractice can be found in a variety of ways. Some of the most common mistakes are: failing to meet the deadline or statute of limitations; not conducting a conflict check on an issue; applying the law improperly to a client's circumstances; and breaching a fiduciary obligation (i.e. mixing trust funds with attorney's personal accounts) and mishandling an instance, and failing to communicate with clients.
Medical malpractice suits typically involve claims for compensation damages. These damages compensate the victim for expenses out of pocket and expenses like hospital and medical bills, the cost of equipment to help recover and lost wages. In addition, victims can claim non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life and emotional suffering.
Legal malpractice cases typically involve claims for compensatory as well as punitive damages. The former compensates victims for losses resulting from the negligence of an attorney, while the latter is intended to discourage future misconduct by the defendant.