Medical Malpractice Law
Medical errors can happen even with the most thorough training or a pledge to not causing harm to others. If they do, the consequences can be devastating for patients.
Malpractice law is a sub-field of tort law which deals with professional negligence. A
malpractice lawsuit must meet four essential elements:
Malpractice claims in the United States are typically filed in state trial courts. To collect evidence, a variety of legal tools are employed and include depositions conducted under oath.
Duty of care
If you are in an arrangement with a doctor, a doctor is responsible for taking care of you. This is true regardless of whether the doctor is treating you in a hospital, or in your own home. However, there are circumstances where doctors can be liable for malpractice even without the existence of a patient-doctor relationship.
A person who is obligated to perform the duty of care must act in a manner that a reasonable person would do in the same situation. A driver, for example is bound by a duty of care to drive in a safe manner and not cause harm to other road users. If the driver fails in this duty and causes an injury, they could be held accountable for any injuries that occur as a result.
Doctors are bound to care for their patients at all times. This includes instances when doctors aren't officially your physician, such as when you seek a doctor's advice in an elevator or outside of the restaurant. However, this obligation to be a good neighbor is often restricted by Good Samaritan laws.
Medical professionals are also required to take care to warn their patients about the dangers that are associated with certain procedures and treatments. In the absence of this, it is a breach of the duty of care of a doctor. A doctor can also breach their duty of care if they give you a medication that is known to interact with other medications you are taking.
Breach of duty
In general, doctors are under a duty to their patients to provide medical care that is in accordance with accepted standards of practice. This standard is governed by the laws of today and by standards developed by medical associations. If a physician fails to meet this duty they are acting negligently. A malpractice lawyer will examine the evidence to determine whether the standard of care was breached.
A doctor can violate their duty of care in a variety of ways. It's not only a matter of whether they have done something a reasonable person wouldn't do in the same situation, it also covers what they should have done, but didn't do. In most cases, it requires expert witness testimony to determine what the accepted medical standard of care would have been.
A doctor may have violated their duty of care if they prescribe a medication that interacts dangerously with another drug. This is a frequent error that could have grave health consequences.
However, simply proving that a breach of duty occurred is not enough to prove negligence. You must prove that there was a direct link between doctor's negligence and your injury or illness to be awarded damages. This is referred to as causation. In some cases, it can be difficult to establish the connection. A skilled
malpractice attorney will search for the evidence necessary to establish this connection.
Causation
A malpractice lawsuit only has legitimacy if the plaintiff can prove that the defendant's negligent actions resulted in the loss and injuries. Proving medical negligence requires use of experts to prove that a patient-provider connection existed and that the medical professional violated the acceptable standard of medical care. It is important that the victim's injuries must be directly connected to the act or omission that violated the standard of medical care. This is known as causality or proxy causes.
It is essential to show that the lawyer's negligence led to significant negative consequences for you when proving legal negligence. A lawsuit can be costly, so you have to be able to show that your losses exceed the costs of the litigation. The plaintiff has to also prove that the negligence led to actual and measurable damages.
In most malpractice cases the discovery process includes oral depositions. Your lawyer can represent you at these depositions and ask questions of the experts in defense to challenge their findings and to prove that the evidence backs your claims. A medical malpractice lawyer with experience is essential for your case, as establishing the four elements, which include duty breach, causation, and harm, can be a challenge and time consuming. Your lawyer is familiar with every step in the process and will ensure that you satisfy all requirements. The more steps you take, the greater your chances of winning.
Damages
The amount of compensation that a patient will receive in a case of medical malpractice will depend on the severity their injuries, as well as how much money they'll require to cover medical expenses loss of income, any other financial loss. In some cases the plaintiff may be awarded punitive damages as a way to punish the doctor for their actions. These are rare, as doctors must have acted with recklessness or intent to receive punitive damages.
Anyone who asserts medical negligence must prove four elements, or legal requirements. These include: (1) that the doctor was bound by a duty of taking care of patients; (2) that the doctor violated that duty by not adhering to the standards of practice that are in place; (3) the victim was injured as a result and (4) the injury is quantifiable. In addition the injured party must file a lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations that varies from state to state.
The law recognizes that some medical negligence claims require substantial time and money to be resolved, particularly those involving complex issues of proximate causality or foreseeability. Its goal is to give victims the justice they deserve, without allowing frivolous or unjust lawsuits to clog the courts. It also aims to cut costs by making sure that all defendants share responsibility for a claim's success (joint and several responsibility) as well as limiting the maximum amount a plaintiff is able to be awarded if other defendants aren't able to provide funds to pay ("damage caps"); and preventing doctors from practicing defensive medicine, which involves altering their treatment plans in response to the danger of malpractice lawsuits.