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Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are in a fiduciary position with their clients and are expected to behave with diligence, care and ability. Attorneys make mistakes, as do other professional.

The mistakes made by attorneys are legal malpractice. To establish legal malpractice, the aggrieved person must demonstrate that there was breach of duty, causation, breach and damages. Let's examine each of these elements.

Duty

Medical professionals and doctors swear by their training and experience to treat patients and not cause harm to others. A patient's legal right to receive compensation for injuries resulting from medical malpractice is based on the notion of the duty of care. Your attorney will determine if your doctor's actions violated the duty of care and if these breaches caused injury or illness.

Your lawyer must establish that the medical professional owed you a fiduciary duty to act with reasonable skill and care. Proving that this relationship existed may require evidence such as the records of your doctor-patient, eyewitness statements and experts from doctors with similar experience, education and training.

Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the medical professional breached their duty of care by not adhering to the standards of practice that are accepted in their field. This is often called negligence. Your attorney will evaluate the defendant's conduct to what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.

Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the breach of the defendant's duty directly caused your injury or loss. This is called causation. Your lawyer will make use of evidence, such as your doctor/patient records, witness testimony and expert testimony, to demonstrate that the defendant’s failure to meet the standards of care was the main cause of injury or loss to you.

Breach

A doctor is required to perform a duty of care for his patients that is in line with professional medical standards. If a doctor fails to meet those standards and fails to do so results in injury, medical malpractice or negligence could occur. Expert testimonials from medical professionals who have the same training, certifications and skills can help determine the quality of care in a given situation. Federal and state laws and institute policies can also be used to determine what doctors should perform for specific types of patients.

To be successful in a malpractice case the evidence must prove that the doctor acted in violation of his or her duty to care and that the breach was the primary cause of an injury. In legal terms, this is referred to as the causation component and it is crucial to establish. For instance an injured arm requires an x-ray, the doctor has to properly fix the arm and place it in a cast to ensure proper healing. If the doctor did not do so and the patient was left with a permanent loss of function of that arm, then malpractice could have occurred.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims rely on the evidence that proves that the lawyer's errors resulted in financial losses for the client. For example the lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the prescribed time of limitations, leading to the case being lost forever the person who was injured can bring legal malpractice law firm actions.

It's important to know that not all errors made by lawyers are considered to be malpractice. Planning and strategy errors aren't usually considered to be a sign of misconduct. Attorneys have a wide choice of discretion when it comes to making decisions, as long as they're able to make them in a reasonable manner.

The law also gives attorneys a wide range of options to refuse to perform discovery on a client's behalf, as long as the action was not negligent or unreasonable. Legal malpractice can be triggered through the failure to uncover important documents or evidence, such as medical reports or witness statements. Other examples of malpractice are the inability to add certain defendants or claims, like failing to include a survival count for wrongful death cases or the constant failure to communicate with clients.

It is also important to remember the necessity for the plaintiff to prove that if not for the lawyer's negligent conduct they would have won their case. In the event that it is not, the plaintiff's claim for malpractice will be denied. This makes bringing legal malpractice claims difficult. Therefore, it's crucial to hire an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

In order to prevail in a legal malpractice lawsuit a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses caused by the actions of an attorney. This can be proven in a lawsuit through evidence like expert testimony, correspondence between the client and attorney along with billing records and other documents. A plaintiff must also demonstrate that a reasonable attorney would have prevented the harm caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is known as proximate causation.

The causes of malpractice vary. Some of the most common errors include: not meeting an expiration date or statute of limitations; failing to perform an investigation into a conflict in an issue; applying the law in a way that is not appropriate to the client's particular situation; and breaking the fiduciary obligation (i.e. mixing trust funds with an attorney's personal accounts), mishandling of the case, and failing to communicate with clients.

In the majority of medical malpractice cases the plaintiff seeks compensation damages. They are awarded to the victim in exchange for the expenses out of pocket and losses, like hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment that aids in recovery, and lost wages. Victims can also seek non-economic damages like discomfort and pain or loss of enjoyment in their lives, as well as emotional stress.

Legal malpractice cases often involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The former compensates victims for losses caused by the attorney's negligence, while the latter is designed to discourage future malpractice by the defendant.