How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

A patient who finds an object foreign to her body, such as surgical clamps inside her body after gall bladder surgery may bring a lawsuit against a doctor for medical malpractice. A successful lawsuit must prove the legal elements of medical negligence: duty, deviation from this duty, direct cause, and injury.

Our clients must establish a direct connection between the breach of duty and the injury. This is known as proximate cause.

Causes of Injury

A medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed by the injured person or a person who is legally authorized to act on their behalf. It could be the spouse or adult child parent, guardian, or administrator of the estate of a deceased person depending on the specific circumstances. In a medical negligence case the defendant is the health care provider. It could be a licensed doctor, nurse or therapist.

Expert testimony is often required in malpractice cases. Medical experts must testify as to whether the doctor acted within the standard of care in their particular field of expertise. They must also testify to the harm resulting from the doctor's actions or inactions.

Injury caused by negligence and mistakes can be catastrophic. A misdiagnosis could have grave consequences, such as a life-threatening condition. Other types of injuries can include operating on the incorrect body part or leaving surgical instruments inside the patient.

In order to establish a malpractice case, the patient must prove four legal elements: a duty the physician owed to them; a breach of the breach; a resulting injury and damages. In certain states like New York the law limits the amount of money that can be awarded for a malpractice case.

Causation

The injury element, also referred to as causation, is one the most important elements in a medical malpractice case. To establish causation, the plaintiff must show that they suffered their injury based on a balance of probabilities as a result of the negligence of a physician. This is a challenging job due to various reasons.

A lot of the injuries that form the basis of a medical negligence lawsuit result from long-term or ongoing conditions that existed prior to when treatment started. Often the statute of limitation for a claim involving medical malpractice extends over a variety of years and the injuries may develop slowly.

In these situations, it is difficult to prove that a particular medical malpractice Law Firm professional's breach of the standard of care caused the injury. However, the aggrieved patient may be able to use the evidence collected by the attorney, such as medical documents and expert testimony.

During the discovery process, medical malpractice law firm which is part of the legal procedure for preparing for trial, your lawyer may request disclosure of expert testimony and other documents from the lawyers representing the defendants. The doctor who is defending the lawsuit is then required to testify in depositions, which are testimony that is under an oath. Your lawyer may challenge the doctor's findings and cross-examine them. The jury will decide then if the plaintiff has proved the necessary elements of their case such as the duty of care, breach, medical Malpractice Law Firm causation and injury.

Negligence

When a medical negligence claim is filed the plaintiff must to convince the jury that it was more likely than not that the doctor did not perform his or her professional obligations and that those breaches caused injuries. The plaintiff's lawyer has to demonstrate this by presenting evidence through pretrial discovery, which entails the disclosure of documents, including medical malpractice lawyers records from all parties who are involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, where statements are made under oath and recorded for trial, are also part of this process.

A doctor has violated his or her professional obligations in the event that he or her did something that a reasonable prudent physician would not do in similar circumstances. It must be proven that the breach was the cause of the injury directly to the patient. This is known as causation or proxy causes. For example an individual goes to the hospital for a procedure to treat a hernia and then has his or his gall bladder removed instead. This is medical negligence since the removal was not beneficial for the patient.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within the legal time limit, known as the statute of limitations. This is different from state to state. The injured patient has to prove that the negligent treatment caused injury, and they must prove what monetary compensation they're entitled to.

Damages

If medical negligence has caused you to sustain an injury, you have the right to be compensated. Scaffidi & Associates can help you receive fair and full compensation for your losses.

The first step is to file and serve a complaint and summons on all named defendants in the lawsuit. The parties then begin discovery, a process in which documents and statements are revealed under oath. Medical records and doctor's notes are typically requested during discovery.

In the majority of states, you need to prove four things to be compensated for injuries caused by medical malpractice that is a duty owed by the healthcare provider and a breach of the duty; a causal link between the breach and the patient's injury and damages resulting from the injury. If your lawyer can prove all of these elements, you will have a strong case for financial recovery in a claim for medical malpractice.

In certain instances courts may decide to award punitive damages. These are designed to punish the culprit and deter others from engaging in similar misconduct. This isn't often however, especially in medical malpractice cases. The courts must have a clear evidence of malice before they can give these extraordinary damages.