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Medical Malpractice Litigation

Medical malpractice lawsuits are complex and time-consuming. Both plaintiffs and defendants are also required to pay a high cost.

In order to win financial compensation in a medical malpractice lawsuit, the injured patient must prove that substandard medical care resulted in injury. This involves establishing four legal elements which include professional duty, breach of that duty or breach, injury, and damages.

Discovery

The most important part of a medical negligence lawsuit is gathering evidence. This can be accomplished via written interrogatories, or requests for documents. Interrogatories comprise of questions that the opposing side must answer under oath and are used for establishing the facts to be presented at trial. Requests for documents to be produced permit tangible items to be retrieved such as medical records or test results.

In many cases, your attorney will record the deposition of the defendant physician in an recorded session of questions and answers. This allows your attorney to ask the doctor or witness questions that would not be allowed at trial and is extremely effective in cases with expert witnesses.

The information gathered during pretrial discovery is used at trial to prove the following aspects of your claim:

Breach of the standard of care

Injuries that result from a violation of the normal care

Proximate cause

Failure of a doctor to apply the knowledge and skills held by doctors in their field and that resulted in injury or injury to the patient

Mediation

While medical malpractice trials are often necessary, they have significant negatives for both sides. For plaintiffs, the stress, expense and the commitment to trial can result in a negative psychological impact on them. For defendant health care professionals, a trial can result in humiliation and loss of prestige. It can also have detrimental effects on their career as well as practice, since the monetary payments they receive as part of settlements prior to trial are reported to national practitioner databases and the state medical licensing board and the medical society.

Mediation is a cost-effective time-efficient, risk-effective, and efficient way to resolve the medical malpractice case. By avoiding the cost of trial and the risk of eroding jury verdicts allows both parties to be more flexible in their settlement negotiations.

Both parties must give brief details of the situation for the mediator prior to mediation (a "mediation short"). The parties usually permit their communication to be done through their lawyer, rather than directly between themselves at this point because direct communications could be used against them later on in court. As the mediation continues, it is recommended to concentrate on the strengths of your case, and be prepared to acknowledge its weaknesses, as well. This will allow the mediator to overcome any misunderstandings and provide you with an acceptable proposal.

Trial

The goal of reformers in tort law is to devise a system that compensates those who suffer injury due to medical negligence quickly and without a large cost. While this is a challenge some states have enacted tort reforms to reduce costs and prevent frivolous medical malpractice claims.

Most physicians in the United States carry malpractice insurance to protect themselves against claims of professional negligence in medical cases. Certain of these policies are required as a condition for hospital privileges or work in a medical group.

To be eligible for financial compensation for injuries incurred by a medical practitioner's negligence the injured patient must prove that the doctor did not adhere to the standards of care applicable in his or her field. This concept is known as proximate cause and is a crucial element of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

A lawsuit starts with the filing of a civil summons or complaint in the appropriate court. Following this the parties have to engage in a process of disclosure. This involves writing interrogatories and the production of documents, such as medical records. Depositions are also involved (deponents are interrogated by attorneys under oath) and requests for admission which are statements made by one side that the other wishes the other to admit either in whole or in part.

The burden of proof in a medical malpractice case is very high and the damages awarded are calculated based on the actual economic loss such as lost earnings and the costs of future medical treatment as well as non-economic losses, such suffering and pain. When seeking a compensation claim for medical malpractice, it is crucial to consult a skilled attorney.

Settlement

Settlements are the most common way to resolve medical malpractice lawsuits. In general, the actual dollar value of a case is negotiated between the plaintiff and the defendants (often through or alongside the defendant's malpractice/professional liability insurer). The result is an award to the injured patient, which is paid to the plaintiff's lawyer who then deposits it into an Escrow account. The lawyer subtracts the legal fees and expenses according to the representation agreement, and then provides the injured victims with settlement.

In order to prevail in a medical malpractice lawsuit, the patient who has suffered must demonstrate that a doctor or other healthcare professional owed them a duty of care, but violated that duty by failing apply the necessary level of knowledge and skill in their field, and that in direct consequence of the breach, the patient suffered injury, and these injuries are measurable in terms of monetary loss.

The United States has a system of 94 federal district courts which are equivalent to state trial courts. And each of these courts has jurors and a judge which decides on cases. In certain instances a medical negligence case can be transferred to one of these federal district courts. Physicians in the United States typically carry medical malpractice insurance to protect themselves from claims of accidental harm or wrongdoing. Physicians must be aware of the nature and function of our legal system in order to take appropriate action if there is a case brought against them.