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Medical Malpractice Law

Even with the best training and an oath to never cause harm, medical errors could happen. When medical errors do occur, the consequences for patients could be devastating.

Malpractice law is a branch of tort law that addresses professional negligence. A malpractice lawsuit must meet four essential elements:

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

Duty of care

If you are in an established doctor-patient relationship, the doctor has a duty of taking care of you. This is no matter if the doctor sees you in a hospital, or at your home. There are however instances where doctors are liable for malpractice even without the existence of a patient-doctor relationship.

Anyone who is obligated to perform the obligation of responsibility must act in the same manner as a reasonable person in the circumstances. For instance, a driver is required to drive with care and not cause injury to other drivers on the road. If a driver does not fulfill this duty and causes an injury, the driver is accountable for any injuries that result.

Doctors are accountable for the treatment of their patients at all times. This includes instances when a doctor is not officially your doctor, like when you seek a doctor's advice in an elevator or outside of a restaurant. However, this obligation to be a good Samaritan is usually limited by Good Samaritan laws.

Medical professionals have a duty to inform patients of the risks associated with certain procedures and treatments. Failure to do this is a breach of a physician's responsibility. A doctor can also breach their duty of care if they provide you a medication known to interact with other medications you are taking.

Breach of duty

Generally, doctors owe patients the obligation of providing medical care that is consistent with the accepted standard of practice. This standard is set by current laws and guidelines developed by medical associations. When a doctor violates this duty, they are acting negligently. A malpractice attorney will look over the evidence and determine if there was a breach of the standard of care.

A doctor could violate their duty of care in a variety of ways. It is not just a matter of whether they have done something normal people wouldn't do in the same situation, it also includes what they should have done and didn't do. Expert witness testimony is typically required to determine the accepted standards of medical practice.

For instance, a doctor who prescribes a medication recognized to be in danger of interaction with other drugs could have violated their obligation. This is a frequent error that can result in grave health consequences.

However, just proving that a breach of duty occurred is not enough to establish malpractice. You must prove a direct connection between the negligence of a doctor and your injury or illness to be awarded damages. This is called causation. This can be a complicated connection to establish in certain instances, but a knowledgeable malpractice lawyer will work hard to uncover the evidence to prove this connection.

Causation

A malpractice case only has validity when the plaintiff can prove that the defendant's wrongful actions resulted in the loss and injuries. Proving medical negligence requires the use of expert testimony to prove that a relationship between the patient and the provider existed and that the medical professional violated the accepted standard of care. It is essential that the harm to a person be directly linked to the act or omission which violated the standard. This is known as causality or proximate cause.

When proving legal malpractice is crucial to prove that the lawyer's lapse had significant negative ramifications for you. A lawsuit can be costly so you need to be able to prove that your losses are greater than the costs of the litigation. The plaintiff has to also prove that the negligence caused tangible and quantifiable damage.

Most malpractice cases go through a discovery process that includes oral depositions. Your lawyer can represent you in these depositions, asking questions of the defense experts to challenge their findings and prove that the evidence backs your claims. It is vital to have an experienced medical malpractice lawyer on your side as establishing the four elements of malpractice, such as duty, breach of duty, causation and harm is complex and time-consuming. Your lawyer will guide you through every step of the process. The more steps you follow the better chances you will be successful in your claim.

Damages

The amount of compensation a patient receives in a medical malpractice case is based on the extent of their injury and the amount of money they need to cover medical bills as well as loss of income or other financial losses. In certain cases the court may award punitive damages awarded to the plaintiff as punishment for the malpractice of the doctor. However, they are not common because doctors must have acted with intent or recklessness to be awarded punitive damages.

The law requires that anyone alleging medical malpractice prove four elements or legal requirements: (1) there was a duty of care on the part of the doctor; (2) the doctor did not fulfill this duty when he or she departed from the established standards of practice; (3) as a result of the doctor's breach the victim was injured and (4) the harm is quantifiable in terms of the amount of money. In addition, the injured party must start a lawsuit within time limit, which varies by state.

The law recognizes that some medical malpractice claims can be complex and expensive to resolve, particularly when they are based on complicated issues like proximate causes or foreseeability. Its aim is to provide victims the justice they are entitled to, without allowing unjustified and opportunistic lawsuits slow down the process. It also aims to cut costs by making sure that all defendants share the responsibility for the success of a lawsuit (joint and several liability); limiting the total amount a plaintiff is able to get if the other defendants do not have funds to pay ("damage caps); and preventing doctors from practicing defensive medicine, which involves changing their treatment plans due to the danger of malpractice lawsuits.