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How to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

The filing of a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor or hospital requires evidence that the defendant violated his or her obligation to patients. This evidence could be a hospital and medical documents.

Our attorneys are experienced at taking depositions that are effective for witnesses. These may be doctors or other medical professionals in private practice, or even staff members at a clinic or hospital.

Negligence

Patients have a right to receive certain standards of care when they visit a hospital, doctor or health care professional. Unfortunately, in some instances these standards are not met, or even violated. The consequences of this breach could be devastating.

A lawsuit may be brought against a medical professional when the patient is injured or dies because of the negligence of that doctor. To prove a case, an injured patient must prove four legal elements including breach of duty and causation and damages.

Malpractice is defined as an act or omission committed by the physician that goes against the norms of practice accepted in the medical field, and results in injury to the patient. It is an aspect of tort law, which deals with civil wrongs that do not fall under contraindicated by law or are criminal offenses.

Medical negligence differs from normal negligence because the victim must prove that the physician was aware or ought to have known that their actions could cause harm to assert malpractice, however normal negligence doesn’t. For example a surgeon who accidentally creates a cut on a vein or nerve during surgery would be in the wrong of negligence, but not malpractice because the doctor did not intend to cause harm.

In a lawsuit for medical malpractice, the defendant has a legal obligation to treat the patient according to the standards of care that a reasonably competent healthcare professional with comparable experience and training in similar situations would provide. The breach of duty is important because it demonstrates that the negligence alleged caused the injury.

Damages

In a malpractice case, damages are calculated based on your losses due to a physician’s negligence. This could include financial losses, like future medical bills, and non-economic damages such as discomfort and pain.

To be able to claim damages, it is necessary to demonstrate that a doctor did not fulfill the duty of care and that his deviance from the standard of care caused injuries, and the damage had quantifiable financial consequences. This is a difficult legal analysis that usually requires expert witness testimony.

Some of these losses can be spotted immediately, for example an error by a doctor led to an infection, or other medical issues that required additional treatment. Other losses are not as obvious, for instance if your doctor has misdiagnosed you and you aren’t able to receive the right treatment.

If the negligence of your doctor leads to your death, you can sue for the cause of death. You can seek punitive damages in addition to the amount you’d receive in a survival lawsuit.

In the majority of states, there are limitations on what you can claim when you file a claim for malpractice. These caps vary from state to state and are generally applicable to both economic and other damages. Some states also have rules that restrict the time you have to wait to start a lawsuit.

Time Limits

As with any lawsuit there are certain time frames which must be adhered to or the case will be dismissed. Generally speaking, a medical malpractice lawsuit must be filed within two to six years from the medical malpractice that occurred. The specific time limit varies by state.

It is important to talk with an attorney as soon as possible. The law firm will conduct an investigation to determine if there was any malpractice and if the case can be heard in court. This phase can last for weeks or even months.

Medical smithfield Malpractice lawyer cases are governed by different laws than other types of cases, and typically, the statute of limitations is modified. For instance, in Pennsylvania a patient must make a claim within two years of the date they discovered the malpractice or when a reasonable person would have recognized that the harm existed. This is called the discovery rule.

In certain states, the statutes of limitations begin to run on the date when the malpractice occurred. This can be problematic if the act does not immediately trigger symptoms. For example, suppose a doctor negligently leaves a foreign object in the body following surgery. The patient may not discover the foreign object until three or more years after the surgery. In that scenario the statute of limitations could have begin running from the date of the procedure instead of the moment of discovery of the error.

Expert Witnesses

A lot of medical great falls malpractice attorney cases rely on expert witnesses to help explain the details of the case. An expert witness for the plaintiff will discuss the doctor’s obligation of care to the patient and the medical standards applicable to the area and the specialization for the type of doctor with similar qualifications and expertise and the ways that the defendant violated the standards. The expert will explain how the deviance directly led to the patient’s injury.

The defendant will employ an expert to challenge the plaintiff’s expert, and provide their professional opinion about whether the doctor’s treatment was consistent with requirements of medical care. The experts may disagree but the fact-finder is the one who decides which expert is the most reliable.

It is recommended for the expert to be still working in the medical profession since they are more knowledgeable about the current practices. Jurors and judges typically consider practicing professionals more believable than experts whose only source of income is the testifying in court.

It is also advisable to get an expert witness who is skilled in the area of the legal malpractice. For example an expert in medical practice who is proficient in treating breast cancer can make an even more convincing case for the cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. A knowledgeable Ocala medical malpractice attorney will know which experts to contact for your case.