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How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

If a patient discovers that an object foreign to the body, such as surgical clamps, remains in her body after gall bladder surgery could file a medical malpractice lawsuit. A successful lawsuit must prove the legal elements of medical negligence: duty, deviance from this obligation, direct cause and injury.

It is essential for our clients to establish a direct relationship between the breach of duty and the damage called proximate causation.

The reason for injury

A claim for medical malpractice can be filed either by the victim or a legal representative. This could be a spouse or adult child, parent, guardian or administrator of the estate of a deceased patient depending on the specific circumstances. The defendant in a suit for medical negligence is the health care provider. This could be a doctor, nurse or therapist, or any other health professional.

Expert testimony is typically required in malpractice cases. Medical experts are required to testify on whether or whether the health professional adhered to the standards of care in their specific field. They also have to testify about injuries caused by doctor's actions or inactions.

Injuries resulting from malpractice and negligence can be quite severe. For instance, a misdiagnosis of a health issue could have life-threatening consequences. Other kinds of injuries include performing surgery on the wrong body part or leaving instruments inside the patient during surgery.

In order to establish a malpractice claim the patient must prove four legal elements: a duty that the doctor owed them; a breach in this duty, resulting injury; and damages. In some states, such as New York, the law restricts the amount of money that can be awarded in an injury resulting from a malpractice claim.

Causation

The injury element, also known as causation, is one of the most important elements in medical malpractice cases. To prove causation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that their injury was caused by a physician's negligence. This is a difficult job due to a variety of reasons.

For instance, many of the injuries that are the cause of a medical negligence lawsuit stem from long-term or ongoing conditions that were already present prior to treatment. Often, the statute of limitations for a claim involving medical malpractice extends over a variety of years and the injuries may develop slowly.

In these cases the proof that a medical professional's breach of the standard of care and led to the injury is difficult. The attorney could have collected evidence, including expert testimony and medical records, that the injured patient can utilize.

During the discovery process, which is a component of the legal procedure getting ready for trial, your lawyer can request the disclosure of expert testimony and other documents from the defense attorneys of the defendants. The doctor defending the lawsuit is then required to testify in a deposition, which is the testimony under the oath. Your lawyer can cross-examine the doctor and challenge the doctor's findings. The jury will decide whether the plaintiff has proved the facts of the case, including duty, breach and causation.

Negligence

The plaintiff must convince the jury when bringing a claim for medical malpractice that it is more likely that the physician violated his or her duties as a doctor and that these actions led to injury. The plaintiff's attorney has to prove this by using evidence gathered during discovery. This includes seeking documents, such as medical records from all parties involved in the lawsuit. Depositions, in which the statements are made under oath, and recorded to be used at trial, are also part of this procedure.

A doctor has breached their professional duty by doing something that reasonable and prudent doctors would not have done under the same circumstances. However it must be proven that the breach directly caused injury to the patient. This is called causation or the proximate cause. For example, a patient goes to the hospital for a hernia operation and ends up having his or the gall bladder removed instead. This is medical negligence as the removal was not beneficial for the patient.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within a certain time limit, known as the statute of limitations. This varies from state to state. The person who suffered the injury must show that the inadequate treatment caused injury, and they have to prove the amount of compensation they deserve.

Damages

If medical negligence has led you to suffer an injury, you should be made whole. Scaffidi & Associates can help you get fair and complete compensation for your losses.

The first step is to file and serve the complaint and summons to all named defendants in the lawsuit. The parties then participate in discovery, a process by which documents and statements are revealed under an oath. During discovery medical records and notes from a doctor are typically requested.

In the majority of states, you must prove four things in order to be compensated for injuries incurred by medical malpractice which includes a duty to the healthcare provider in breach of that duty; a causal connection between the breach and the injury suffered by the patient and the damages that result from the injury. If your attorney can establish all of these elements, you have an excellent case for financial compensation in a medical negligence claim.

In some cases the court might decide to award punitive damages which is intended to penalize a wrongdoer and deter others from engaging in similar conduct. However, this is rare in medical malpractice cases, as courts require specific proof of malice to award these extraordinary awards.