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Medical Malpractice Law

Medical malpractice cases involve injuries resulting from a healthcare professional's negligence. There are a variety of laws that apply to such cases such as statutes of limitation and damages.

Malpractice occurs when an individual is not treated with the same degree of care as other doctors would in similar circumstances. Malpractice includes misdiagnosis and surgical errors.

Complaint

Medical malpractice is a subset of tort law that covers professional negligence. It is defined as an act or omission by doctors that goes against accepted standards of practice in the medical field and causes an injury to the patient [2223.

The lawsuit process begins when you file a civil court complaint when you've suffered injuries by hospital negligence. In this document, you list the basic facts of your case. You must also identify the hospital you worked in and any physicians involved with your case. Depending on the circumstances, you might be able to agree in advance that health professionals will not be identified as individuals in the lawsuit (this is called "no-name agreements").

Then you write down the injuries and the dollar amount associated with each. Included are your past and future medical expenses, lost income due to inability to work, discomfort and pain and any other losses that you have suffered as a result of the negligence of the doctor. It is recommended to submit these documents as quickly as you can your attorneys so that they can begin a thorough review.

Summons

If you believe that you've suffered injuries due to medical negligence, your lawyer writes an order and complaint and has them filed with the court. The clerk of court assigns an unique number to the case. This identifier is called the index number. It will be used to track the case through its way through the courts.

The lawyer for the plaintiff will invest lots of time and money to win an action. These resources are needed to fund legal discovery and to procure expert physician witnesses. Even the case of medical malpractice is not successful, the attorney will still have spent lots of time and effort.

A lawsuit must establish that the health care professional breached a legal obligation and caused harm to the patient and that the injury is serious enough to warrant legal redress. In the United States, a patient must demonstrate four elements or legal requirements for a legitimate medical malpractice claim. These include the existence of a duty; breach of duty; damages; and causation. Medical malpractice claims are governed by state law, however, in certain circumstances the matter may be transferred to federal district courts.

Discovery

Once a complaint and civil summons are filed in the proper court the formal discovery process begins. This is when your medical malpractice attorney will be spending a lot of time trying to gather evidence in the case. This can include reviewing medical records through the services of a medical review company.

This is an important step in the legal process as it can help your attorney discover vital information to support your claim. It is also the most time-consuming component of a medical negligence lawsuit.

In the pre-trial discovery phase of your case, your lawyer will request from the defendants certain documents and other information. The defendants have the chance to answer these questions. These questions are oath-bound and you have to answer them in a truthful manner. These questions are used by defendants to raise defenses against your case. This is why it's essential to hire an experienced medical malpractice lawyer. They can make sure that all the required evidence is presented in a way that is easy for juries and judges to understand.

Request for Admission

Before a medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed, a number of states require that the injured patient present the case to a panel of medical experts who will hear arguments and analyze evidence and expert testimony to determine whether the patient's claim is valid enough to proceed. The statute of limitations is a law that requires medical malpractice lawsuits to be filed in court within a specific time frame.

To allow the legal team representing the patient to bring a medical malpractice claim, it has to be proven that the health professional did not meet the accepted standard of care in his or her particular field. This is also referred to as the standard of medical care yardstick. It's important that the legal team representing the injured patient is able pinpoint specific examples of deviations from the standard.

Trial

To prove that there was a malpractice the patient has to show: (1) that the doctor owed a professional responsibility to her; (2) that the physician violated this duty through an infraction of the standard of care. (3) The breach caused injury and (4) this injury resulted from damages. This requirement requires expert testimony from a medical professional in order to help the jury understand relevant medical standards. It can be challenging for a victim of injury and her legal team, to bridge the gap between their general knowledge and experience and the highly skilled and knowledgeable expertise required to determine the malpractice.

Malpractice claims can be filed with the state trial court that is the court with jurisdiction over the case. However, in limited circumstances, they can also be filed in federal district courts. Both trial courts apply the same laws as other civil litigants. Depositions of the defendant physician are usually held, during which time the attorneys from each side are able to ask questions. After direct examination the opposing attorney may question the testifying physician. The process continues until both sides have exhausted their questions.