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Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

A medical malpractice lawyer aids injured victims receive compensation for their losses. The common law system regulates medical malpractice claims.

In common law, doctors must observe the standard of care when treating their patients. If a doctor does not adhere to accepted medical procedures and results in injury or death the doctor could be held liable for negligence.

Duty of Care

Medical professionals must adhere to established set of standards that are regarded by the medical profession as reasonable and prudent when providing care. If those standards are not followed and the result is harm or health issues patients may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The initial step of a malpractice claim is to establish that you had a doctor-patient relationship with the healthcare provider at issue and that the entity or person owed you a duty to act in a reasonable manner. Then, you have to prove that the breach of that duty occurred. This is typically done with the use of experts who can provide an objective analysis and assessment of the situation.

The expert witness can determine whether the defendant's actions are below the accepted standard in your case. To allow the expert to make this decision, they will need to be able to review your medical records and conduct an examination or interview of you.

You must be able to show that the breach directly led to your injury. This is known as causation and it is the third element of a malpractice claim. In most cases, you will require an exact cause-and-effect link between the breach of duty and subsequent injury. A misdiagnosis, for instance, could lead to prescribing the wrong medicine or treatment being administered. This could result in an adverse reaction such as a heart attack.

Breach of Duty

Like all doctors who are legally obligated to act, doctors also have an obligation to act with the utmost care and caution. Doctors are held to a higher standard however, since they are medical experts who make life-or-death decisions. The duty of care is outlined in the laws and standards that govern specific types of treatments and procedures.

One of the most important elements that must be established in a negligence case is that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. It must be established that the defendant did not fulfill this obligation of care. This means that the doctor failed to meet the standards of care in the particular situation. The standard of care is typically determined by what a reasonable individual would do in similar circumstances. A reasonable driver, for instance, would not run a traffic light.

In a malpractice case experts could be required to provide evidence on the standard of care violated and how the standard was violated. They can also explain what caused the injury and what could have prevented it.

Damages

Physicians in the United States are required to have malpractice insurance to protect their potential losses arising from medical negligence. To file a claim for damages the plaintiff has to prove actual financial losses (such as medical expenses and lost wages) and non-economic losses (such as pain and suffering).

The amount of compensation received from a successful malpractice case is contingent on how your New York medical malpractice law firm malpractice lawyer presents the case for your losses. Your attorney can establish medically necessary costs by reviewing your medical records, utilizing expert testimony, and consulting economic experts. Your medical malpractice attorney must prove the loss of your earnings by proving the amount of days you were away working due to medical conditions, and also that these days were the result of the defendant's negligence.

Non-economic damages can be difficult to prove. You may require the assistance of a professional witness who can describe your physical, mental and emotional distress as directly resulting from the defendant's negligence. Loss of consortium is a different kind of non-economic loss. It is the inability of having a loving, sexual relationship with your spouse or another significant individual as you used to. The defendant's attorney will challenge your non-economic damages by a process of interrogatories, depositions and requests for documents and statements under the oath.

Statute of limitations

In New York, as with every state, there are definite time limits - commonly known as statutes or limitations within which a medical negligence lawsuit must be filed, or otherwise it could be dismissed by the courts. A seasoned New York medical malpractice lawyer is aware of these specifics and will ensure your claim is filed before the deadlines set by law.

In the majority of cases, a victim of medical malpractice must bring a lawsuit within two and a half years of the date when the negligence or act of a health care provider resulted in the death or injury. As with all laws, this law is not without exceptions. For instance when the error made by the health care professional was part of a continuous course of treatment, the 30-month legal "clock" will not start until the treatment is completed or when the patient becomes aware of the diagnosis.

In certain instances the patient may not discover the problem until a long time later, for example the case where a foreign body remains in the body following surgery or treatment. To tackle this issue, the majority of states have implemented the discovery rule. This allows injured victims in certain circumstances to extend their timeframes. Your lawyer is familiar with the rules of your state and will review your case timeline carefully to avoid any administrative errors that could impede your claim.