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Medical Malpractice Law

Even with the most thorough training and a pledge to never cause harm, medical errors could occur. If medical errors occur the consequences for patients could be devastating.

The law of malpractice is a part of tort law which deals with professional negligence. A malpractice case must meet the following four requirements:

Malpractice claims in the United States are typically filed in state trial courts. To gather evidence, a range of legal tools are employed, including depositions taken under an oath.

Duty of care

If you have a doctor-patient relationship, a doctor has a responsibility of caring to you. This is true regardless of whether the doctor is treating you in a hospital or your own home. There are specific circumstances where doctors can be held accountable for malpractice, even if there is no patient-doctor relation.

Anyone who is obligated to perform a duty of responsibility must behave in the same way as a reasonable person under the circumstances. For example, a driver is required to drive carefully and not cause injuries to others on the road. If the driver is not able to meet this duty and causes injury, he or her could be held accountable for any injuries that occur as a result.

Doctors are obliged 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 in an establishment. However, the obligation to be a good neighbor is often limited by Good Samaritan laws.

Medical professionals are required to warn patients of the risks associated with certain procedures and treatments. Failure to do this is an infraction of the physician's responsibility. Doctors can also violate their duty of care when they give you a medication known to interact with other medications you are taking.

Breach of duty

In general, doctors are under obligations to their patients to provide medical care that conforms to accepted standards of practice. This standard is set by current laws and standards developed by medical associations. If a doctor fails to meet this obligation is deemed negligent. A malpractice lawyer will investigate the evidence and determine whether there was a breach of the standard of care.

A doctor may violate their duty of care in a variety of ways. It's not just about whether doctors did something that an average person wouldn't do in the same situation but also things they should have done or didn't do. It is often necessary to have expert witness testimony to determine what the accepted medical standard of practice would have been.

A doctor may have violated their duty of care if they prescribe a medication that interacts dangerously with another medication. This is a common error that can have serious health consequences.

It is not enough to show that malpractice took place. To be awarded damages, you must show that there was a direct link between the breach of duty committed by the doctor and your injury or illness. This is known as causation. In some instances it may be difficult to establish the connection. A skilled malpractice attorney will work hard to find the evidence necessary to prove this connection.

Causation

A malpractice claim is valid only if the plaintiff is able to prove that the defendant's negligence caused the injury and losses. Expert testimony is required to prove medical negligence. This requires proof that there was a patient-provider relation and that the provider's conduct violated the accepted standard of care. It is crucial that the injury suffered by an individual be directly related to the act or omission that violated the standard. This is called causality or proximate causes.

It is vital to show that the attorney's negligence led to significant negative consequences for you when you are proving that the attorney committed legal malpractice. You must prove that the costs of a lawsuit exceed the losses. The plaintiff must also prove that negligence caused tangible and quantifiable damages.

In the majority of malpractice cases, the discovery process involves oral depositions. Your lawyer can represent you in these depositions, and ask questions of the experts in defense to challenge their conclusions and show that the evidence supports your claims. It is imperative to have a seasoned medical malpractice lawsuit lawyer on your side as the four elements of malpractice, including duty, breach the duty, causation and injury is time-consuming and complex. Your lawyer knows each step of the process and will ensure that you meet all requirements. The more steps you go through the higher your chance of winning.

Damages

The amount of money a patient receives in a medical malpractice case is based on the extent of their injury and the amount of money they require to cover medical bills and income loss or other financial losses. In some cases the plaintiff may be awarded punitive damages to penalize the doctor for their actions. These are rare, as doctors must have acted with recklessness or with the intention of receiving punitive damages.

A person who alleges medical malpractice must prove four elements, or legal requirements. These are: (1) that the doctor had a duty of caring; (2) that the doctor violated his duty by not adhering to the standard of practice established; (3) the victim was injured as a result and (4) the injury is quantifiable. The person who was injured must present a lawsuit within the statute of limitations in effect, which varies from state to state.

The law recognizes that certain medical negligence claims take a considerable amount of cost and time to be resolved, especially those that deal with complex issues of proximate causes or foreseeability. Its goal to give victims the justice they are entitled to, without allowing the filing of frivolous and unjustified lawsuits to delay the justice system. It also seeks to reduce costs by requiring all defendants to share the responsibility for the successful resolution of a lawsuit (joint-and-several liability) and restricting the amount a plaintiff may recover if the other defendants are not able to pay ("damage cap"); and restricting physicians from practicing defensive medicine, which requires them to change their treatment plans as a response to the threat or malpractice law firm lawsuits.