Common Causes of Malpractice Litigation
Malpractice litigation is a complicated procedure. Whether or not an error is considered to be malpractice is dependent on whether the patient is able to establish four legal elements: a professional duty breach of this duty; harm resulted from the breach and damages that can be quantifiable.
Plaintiffs must also prove these elements by presenting evidence such as expert testimony, depositions, and discovery.
The wrong diagnosis and the inability to recognize
A physician's inability to accurately diagnose an illness or injury can lead to grave complications, or even death. Incorrect diagnosis is a common cause of medical negligence. To prove negligence, a patient or their lawyer must prove that an experienced doctor in similar circumstances would not have misdiagnosed an illness.
The misdiagnosis of a patient does not always mean
malpractice attorneys. Even highly skilled and experienced doctors make mistakes, so any claim of
Malpractice Lawyers has to be backed by other elements like breach, proximate causality and actual injury. For instance If a doctor does not take the time to clean their equipment prior the time they administer anesthesia to a patient and they develop an infection in the process the doctor could be guilty of malpractice.
In most instances, lawsuits claiming that there was a mistake will be filed in the state trial court in which the alleged error occurred. Federal courts may, however, have jurisdiction in certain circumstances. A case can be brought before federal court in certain circumstances. For instance it could be a dispute about the statute of limitations or in the event that the parties have different nationalities. Certain disputes are settled through arbitral arbitration, which is a binding process. This is a less formal process that involves professional decision makers. It is designed to reduce expenses, speed up the legal process, and remove the risk that comes with large juries. Arbitration is not available in all cases of
malpractice law firms.
Dosage of a drug that is incorrect
Medication errors, often referred to as medication mistakes, are one of the leading causes of medical malpractice lawsuits. These errors are caused by a doctor writing a prescription in a wrong format or giving the patient the incorrect dosage. These errors are generally preventable. In the event of an incident the pharmacy, hospital or other health care provider could be held accountable for the harm caused by a patient who received the wrong dose of a medication.
A doctor can prescribe the wrong medicine because of a misdiagnosis or simply failing to read the prescription. A health care professional could also prescribe the wrong dosage due to an issue with communication for example, when a nurse reads a doctor's handwritten script incorrectly or the pharmacist makes a mistake in filling out the prescription. In other instances the doctor could delay giving the correct medication, which could lead to the patient's condition getting worse.
A plaintiff must prove in order to win a malpractice lawsuit that the medical professional violated their professional standards and that their injuries were directly attributed to the negligence. This requires the testimony of a medical expert. Furthermore, a medical negligence claim must establish the extent of a victim's injuries and the damages they suffered because of the negligence. This includes the cost of treatment as well as any wages lost. Generally, the greater a loss is then, the more valuable the claim will be.
Wrong Procedure
It might seem unlikely that medical professionals could perform the wrong procedure on a patient, however, this kind of thing occurs. A surgeon who makes the mistake could be held accountable for malpractice. Patients who are injured as a result of an error during surgery can be held liable for any mistakes that were made during the procedure.
A health care professional accused of malpractice must demonstrate that the patient was injured as a result of an action or inability to take action. To establish this the legal team representing the patient must prove that (1) the doctor was in an obligation to provide care or treatment; (2) that the doctor did not fulfill this duty; (3) that there is a direct and causal connection between the breach and the injury; and (4) that the injury results in damages that the legal system is able to deal with.
A breach of the duty of care has no significance unless it causes injury that's why medical malpractice lawsuits are generally built on a legal concept known as "res ipsa loquitur." This law states that, in a lot of instances certain injuries are obvious and recognizable that they can only be explained by negligent actions.
Depending on the facts the plaintiff (the person who filed the claim, or their legal representative) or their lawyer may choose to file in federal or state court. The majority of malpractice cases are filed with state courts, however in certain circumstances the case of medical negligence may be filed in federal district court.
Wrong Surgery
A wrong-site procedure is a rare error, but it may be considered medical malpractice if the procedure is performed on the wrong side of the body. This type of mistake is usually caused by miscommunications between members of the surgical team, or by production pressures that result in surgeons having multiple surgeries scheduled at the same time. In these cases the surgeon is not solely responsible for a wrong-site operation due to the legal principle of "res ipsa locquitur" which says that the result is a matter of fact and cannot be blamed on negligence.
If a patient gets injured as a result of surgery done on the wrong location it is possible that he or she will require additional treatments to correct problems exacerbated by the surgical error. This results in costly medical expenses for patients as well as their families. These expenses must be considered when calculating the financial impact of medical malpractice lawsuits.
Surgeons are most often held accountable for surgical errors because they are the ones who are responsible for getting ready for the procedure by double-checking patient's chart and medical records, coordinating effectively with the other members of the medical team, and making sure the incision is done at the correct place. In certain instances hospitals or anesthesiologists may also be held responsible. Medical malpractice lawsuits are usually filed in state courts, however, under certain circumstances, they can be transferred to federal court.