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Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice has occurred when a physician has failed to treat a patient with the same standard of care as that of a "reasonable and prudent" doctor causing damages to occur.

 

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The damages can be in the form of a personal injury and/or substantive loss of income. It has been estimated that over 225,000 people per year die in the United States due to medical malpractice. This statistic has been reported by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Of those who are the victims of medical malpractice, only about 10-percent ever file a lawsuit. Out of this group, approximately one-half will recover damages from their medical malpractice lawsuit.

In order for a medical malpractice lawsuit to succeed, the plaintiff will have to prove that they were a patient of the hospital or doctor, there was a breach in the standard of care, an injury was caused and the damages were the result of the doctor's mistake. If these four components have been proven, then a positive outcome in the medical malpractice suit will likely ensue.

Medical malpractice cases are by their nature very complicated. Therefore, when pursuing this type of case a medical malpractice lawyer needs to be consulted. The attorney should be well-versed in general medical procedures and the medical law system. Some attorneys even specialize in subsets of medical malpractice such as brain injury lawyers or birth injury lawyers.

When pursuing a medical malpractice case, it will first need to be proven that a doctor-patient or hospital-patient relationship exists. If this relationship does not exist (such as friendly advice from a neighbor), then the medical malpractice lawsuit will not go forward. Once this relationship has been established then the second step is to prove that a breach of the standard of care existed.

In order to prove a breach in the standard of care existed, the standard of care will need to be established. This is most commonly accomplished with the aid of expert medical witnesses. Physicians within the same specialty as the defendant doctor may testify that under the same circumstances, they would have handled medical matters differently and that there approach would be considered common.

Once the standard of care has been established, the third step will be to prove that the plaintiff suffered an injury. This may seem obvious, but jurors in medical malpractice cases are more likely to assign damages when permanent injury has occurred, and thus in most cases, personal, life-long permanent damage must be established before a case can go forward.

After it has been proven that the doctor's (or hospital's) mistake caused the injury, then the fourth step is to determine the injury was caused by the acts or omissions of the doctor. Expert testimony, witnesses and medical records will play an important role in establishing that the doctor's mistakes caused the patient to be injured.

If medical negligence is suspected, it is wise to consult a medical malpractice lawyer promptly. Medical records from the doctor and hospital will need to be gathered as quickly as possible. The longer the wait, the higher the chances that some important medical records may be damaged or misfiled. Also, cases need to be filed within the statute of limitations, which is 2 years for most states, though some exceptions do occur.

In addition, time is of the essence so that your medical malpractice lawyer can depose witnesses before memories have changed or witnesses have collaborated on their stories, unintentionally changing facts due to the "group" effect. Fresh recall of witnesses is one of the most valuable resources for any medical malpractice case.

Medical malpractice cases are complicated. It is wise to consult with a qualified attorney to see if they think you have a case worth pursuing. Bringing in as many records as possible to the initial consultation will help the attorney decide if negligence claim has merit. Remember also that not all medical malpractice attorneys will see merit in the same case, so it may take a couple of tries to find the right attorney for your case.

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 


 

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