Here's A Little Known Fact Regarding Malpractice Case

How to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

A medical malpractice lawsuit against a hospital or doctor requires evidence that the defendant breached his or her obligation to patients. This evidence can include hospital and medical documents.

Our lawyers have a wealth of experience in conducting effective depositions. They could be doctors or other medical professionals in private practice, or even staff members at a hospital or clinic.

Negligence

Patients have a right to receive certain standards of care when they visit a doctor, hospital, or health care professional. However, in a few instances these standards are not being met or even breached. This breach can have devastating results.

If someone suffers injury or death because of a doctor's negligence, they can file a lawsuit against the medical professional. To establish a case, an injured patient must prove four legal elements including breach of duty and damages and causation.

Malpractice is defined as an act or omission committed by medical professionals that is contrary to the accepted norms of medicine within the medical profession, and causes injury to the patient. It is a component of tort law, which addresses civil wrongs, not criminal offenses or contractual obligations.

Medical negligence is different from normal negligence in that the party who suffers has to prove that the doctor knew, or ought to have known, that their actions were going to cause harm before they can claim malpractice. Normal negligence does not. For example an surgeon who accidentally nicks a nerve or vein during surgery is in the wrong of negligence, but not malpractice because the doctor was not aiming to cause harm.

In a medical malpractice lawsuit the defendant has an obligation to treat the patient in accordance with the standards of care that a reasonably prudent healthcare professional with similar expertise and training in similar circumstances would provide. The breach of this duty is an essential aspect since it shows that the alleged negligence caused the injury.

Damages

Damages in a malpractice case are determined by the losses you suffered due to negligence by a doctor. These could include both financial loss such as the cost of future medical expenses as well as non-economic losses such as pain and Lawsuit suffering.

In order to recover damages, you need to demonstrate that a doctor did not fulfill the law, that his deviation from the standard of care resulted in injuries, and that the injury caused financial harm that was quantifiable. This is a complex legal analysis that typically requires expert witness testimony.

Certain of the losses can be observed in a matter of minutes, for instance when a mistake made by a doctor resulted in an infection or other medical issues that required further treatment. Certain damages are more difficult to detect like when doctors misdiagnose your condition and you don't receive the right treatment.

If your doctor's malpractice results in your death and you are unable to sue, you may be able to sue for the wrongful death. You may seek punitive damages in addition the compensation you'd receive in a survival lawsuit.

In many states, there are restrictions to the amount you can get in a scottsboro malpractice attorney claim. These limits vary from state to state and are usually applicable to both economic and non-economic damages. Some states have laws that limit the time you can delay before filing an action.

Time Limits

As with any lawsuit, there are specific deadlines to be adhered to or the case will be dismissed. A malpractice lawsuit must generally be filed between two and six years after the malpractice occurred. The deadline varies according to state.

It is crucial to consult an attorney as soon as possible. The law firm will conduct an investigation to determine if there was a malpractice was committed and if it could hold up in court. This process can take months or weeks.

Medical malpractice cases involve different laws than other types of cases and typically, the statute of limitations is modified. For example in Pennsylvania a patient must file a claim within 2 years from the date they discovered the malpractice or that a reasonable person would have recognized that the harm existed. This is known as the discovery rule.

In certain states, the statutes of limitations begin to run on the date on which the medical error occurred. This could be an issue if the medical error does not cause immediate symptoms. Imagine, for example, that a doctor has negligently left a foreign object in the patient's body after surgery. The patient might not discover the object until three years after the surgery. In that case the statute of limitations could have begun to expire from the date the surgery, not from the discovery of the error.

Expert Witnesses

Expert witnesses are often asked to provide facts in medical malpractice cases. An expert witness for a plaintiff will provide testimony regarding the doctor's duty of providing medical care to the patient, the medical standards in the area and in the specialty of doctors with similar qualifications and skills and the ways in which the defendant deviated from those standards. The expert will also explain how the departure directly caused the patient's injury.

The defendant will engage an expert to counter the plaintiff's expert and give their professional opinion on whether the doctor was in compliance with the standards of care. It is common for the experts to differ with each with respect to their opinions, but the fact finder determines who is most credible based on their experience and education.

It is preferential that the expert continue to working in the medical field as they will have a greater understanding of current practice. Jurors and judges tend to consider practicing doctors more trustworthy than experts who rely solely on the testimony of a court.

It is also recommended to hire an expert who specializes in the field of malpractice. For instance an expert in medical practice who is knowledgeable about treating breast cancer could make a an argument more convincing regarding the reason for a plaintiff's injury. A medical malpractice attorney in Ocala knows which experts to speak with.