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Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are bound by a fiduciary obligation to their clients, and are required to act with skill, diligence and care. Attorneys make mistakes just like any other professional.

The mistakes made by an attorney is negligence. To prove negligence in a legal sense the person who was hurt must prove duty, breach of obligation, causation, as well as damage. Let's look at each one of these aspects.

Duty-Free

Medical professionals and doctors swear to apply their education and expertise to treat patients and not cause harm to others. Duty of care is the foundation for a patient's right to compensation when they suffer injuries due to medical malpractice. Your lawyer can assist you determine if the actions of your doctor violated this duty of care, and whether the breach caused injury or illness to you.

Your lawyer must establish that the medical professional was bound by the fiduciary obligation to act with reasonable skill and care. This can be demonstrated by eyewitness testimony, physician-patient reports and expert testimony from doctors with similar educational, experience and training.

Your lawyer will also need to establish that the medical professional breached their duty of care in not adhering to the accepted standards of their area of expertise. This is often referred to as negligence. Your lawyer will examine the defendant's actions to what a reasonable person would do in the same circumstance.

Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the defendant's negligence directly contributed to your loss or injury. This is known as causation. Your attorney will use evidence such as your doctor-patient reports, witness statements and expert testimony to show that the defendant's inability to live up to the standard of care in your case was the direct cause of your injury or loss.

Breach

A doctor is obligated to patients to perform duties of care that are consistent with professional medical standards. If a doctor does not adhere to these standards and the failure causes injury, then medical malpractice or negligence could occur. Expert testimony from medical professionals who have the same training, certifications as well as experience and qualifications can help determine the level of care in a particular situation. State and federal laws as well as institute policies also determine what doctors should provide for specific kinds of patients.

To be successful in a malpractice case, it must be proven that the doctor violated his or her duty of care and that the breach was the direct cause of an 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 properly fix the arm and place it in a cast for proper healing. If the doctor failed to do so and the patient suffered a permanent loss of use of the arm, then malpractice may have occurred.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims rely on evidence that shows the attorney's errors caused financial losses to the client. For instance when a lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, resulting in the case being lost for ever the person who was injured can file legal malpractice claims.

It's important to recognize that not all errors made by attorneys are considered to be malpractice. Strategies and mistakes aren't usually considered to be a violation of the law, and attorneys have a lot of latitude to make judgment calls as long as they are reasonable.

The law also gives attorneys a wide range of options to refuse to conduct discovery on a client's behalf, as long as the action was not negligent or unreasonable. Legal malpractice can be caused by not obtaining crucial documents or evidence, such as medical reports or witness statements. Other instances of malpractice Attorney could be a failure to add certain claims or defendants such as omitting to include a survival count in a wrongful-death case or the continual and extended inability to contact clients.

It's also important that it must be proven that, if not the lawyer's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the underlying case. If not, the plaintiff's claims for malpractice attorney will be rejected. This makes the filing of legal malpractice claims a challenge. Therefore, it's crucial to hire an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

To prevail in a legal malpractice case, a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses that result from an attorney's actions. In the case of a lawsuit this has to be demonstrated using evidence, such as expert testimony and correspondence between the client and attorney. The plaintiff must also show that a reasonable attorney could have prevented the damage caused by the lawyer's negligence. This is known as proximate cause.

Malpractice can occur in many different ways. The most frequent errors include: not meeting an expiration date or statute of limitations; not performing an investigation into a conflict in a case; applying the law in a way that is not appropriate to the client's particular situation; and breaking the fiduciary duty (i.e. mixing trust account funds with personal attorney accounts) or mishandling the case, or failing to communicate with a client.

In the majority of medical malpractice cases the plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages. These compensations are intended to compensate the victim for the cost of out-of-pocket expenses and losses, such as medical and hospitals bills, costs of equipment to aid in recovery, and lost wages. Victims may also claim non-economic damages such as pain and discomfort and loss of enjoyment their lives, as well as emotional suffering.

Legal malpractice cases usually involve claims for compensatory as well as punitive damages. The first compensates the victim for the losses caused by the attorney's negligence and the latter is intended to discourage any future malpractice by the defendant's side.