Why We Our Love For Malpractice Attorney (And You Should Also!)

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are bound by a fiduciary obligation to their clients, and they must act with skill, diligence and care. But, as with all professionals attorneys make mistakes.

A mistake made by an attorney can be considered legal malpractice. To prove that legal malpractice has occurred, the victim must prove duty, breach, causation and damages. Let's look at each of these elements.

Duty

Medical professionals and doctors take an oath to use their skill and training to treat patients, and not causing further harm. The legal right of a patient to be compensated for injuries sustained from medical malpractice is based on the notion of duty of care. Your attorney can determine if your doctor's actions breached the duty of care and whether these violations caused injury or illness.

Your lawyer must establish that the medical professional was bound by the duty of a fiduciary to perform with reasonable skill and care. This relationship can be established by eyewitness testimony, doctor-patient reports and expert testimony from doctors with similar education, experience and training.

Your lawyer will also need to establish that the medical professional violated their duty to care in not adhering to the accepted standards in their area of expertise. This is typically described as negligence. Your attorney will compare what the defendant did to what a reasonable individual would do in the same situation.

Finally, your lawyer must demonstrate that the defendant's breach of duty directly caused injury or loss to you. This is referred to as causation. Your lawyer will rely on evidence like your medical or patient records, witness testimony, and expert testimony, to show that the defendant's inability to adhere to the standard of care was the direct cause of the injury or loss to you.

Breach

A doctor has a duty to patients of care that adhere to the standards of medical professional practice. If a doctor doesn't adhere to these standards and the resulting failure causes an injury or medical malpractice, then negligence could result. Expert testimony from medical professionals who have similar training, certifications and skills can help determine the quality of care in a particular situation. State and federal laws, along with guidelines from the institute, help define what doctors are required to provide for specific types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit the case must be proved that the doctor violated his or duty of care and that the breach was the direct cause of injury. In legal terms, this is called the causation component, and it is vital that it is established. For instance an injured arm requires an xray the doctor must fix the arm and place it in a cast to ensure proper healing. If the doctor did not do so and the patient suffered an unavoidable loss of use of the arm, then malpractice may have occurred.

Causation

Attorney malpractice law firm claims are founded on the evidence that the attorney made errors that resulted in financial losses for the client. For instance, if a lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the prescribed time of limitations, leading to the case being lost for malpractice lawsuit ever, the injured party could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.

It is important to recognize that not all mistakes made by attorneys constitute wrong. Mistakes in strategy and planning are not usually considered to be malpractice attorneys are given the ability to make judgement calls so long as they're reasonable.

The law also allows attorneys the right to refuse to conduct discovery for a client in the event that the decision was not arbitrary or a case of negligence. The failure to discover crucial information or documents like medical reports or witness statements could be a sign of legal malpractice. Other examples of malpractice include a inability to include certain defendants or claims such as omitting to make a survival claim in a wrongful-death case or the consistent and extended inability to communicate with the client.

It's also important to keep in mind that it must be proven that, had it not been for the lawyer's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the underlying case. If not, the plaintiff's claims for malpractice will be denied. This requirement makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. This is why it's essential to choose an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

To win a legal malpractice case, a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses caused by an attorney's actions. This should be proved in a lawsuit by utilizing evidence such as expert testimony, correspondence between the client and attorney as well as billing records and other documentation. A plaintiff must also demonstrate that a reasonable attorney would have prevented the harm caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is referred to as the proximate cause.

Malpractice can occur in many different ways. The most frequent errors include: not meeting an expiration date or statute of limitations; failing to perform a conflict check on an instance; applying the law improperly to a client's situation; or breaking the fiduciary obligation (i.e. commingling trust account funds with personal attorney accounts) and mishandling a case, and not communicating with clients.

In most medical malpractice cases the plaintiff will seek compensatory damages. These compensate the victim for out-of-pocket expenses and losses, like hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment needed to aid in recovery, and loss of wages. Victims can also seek non-economic damages such as pain and discomfort, loss of enjoyment of their lives, and emotional distress.

Legal malpractice cases usually involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The first compensates the victim for the damages due to the negligence of the attorney while the latter is meant to prevent future mistakes on the part of the defendant.