How to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
Bringing a medical malpractice suit against a doctor or hospital requires evidence that the defendant has violated his or her obligation to patients. This evidence could be a hospital and medical documents.
Our attorneys are experienced at taking effective depositions of witnesses. They could be doctors or other medical professionals working 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 the standards aren’t always met or even violated. The consequences of this breach can be devastating.
A lawsuit can be brought against a medical professional if the patient is injured or suffers a death due to the negligence of the doctor. To establish a case, the person who was injured must establish four legal elements including breach of duty and damages and causation.
malpractice lawyers can be defined as an action by an individual doctor that is not in line with the accepted norms within the medical profession and causes harm to a patient. It is an aspect of tort law which covers civil violations that are not contractual duties or criminal offenses.
Medical negligence is distinct from regular negligence because the victim must prove that the doctor was aware that their actions would cause harm to be able to claim malpractice, however normal negligence does not. For instance a surgeon who accidentally cut a vein or nerve during surgery is guilty of negligence but not malpractice since the doctor was not aiming to cause harm.
In an instance of medical malpractice the defendant’s obligation is to provide the patient with the standard of care a prudent health care professional of similar experience and qualifications could provide in similar situations. The violation of this duty is a crucial aspect because it proves that the alleged negligence caused the injury.
Damages
In a malpractice case damages are calculated based upon your losses caused by a doctor’s negligence. This could include financial losses, such as future medical bills, and non-economic damages such as discomfort and pain.
In order to obtain damages, you need to prove that a doctor violated an obligation or obligation, and that his lapse from the standard of care caused injury, and that the injury had quantifiable financial consequences. This is a complex legal analysis that usually 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 led to an infection, or other medical issues that require additional treatment. Some damage is more difficult to detect for instance, when a doctor misdiagnoses your condition and you do not receive the correct treatment.
If your doctor’s malpractice leads to your death or death, you can file a lawsuit for the cause of death. You can seek punitive damages in addition to the compensation you would get in a lawsuit for survival.
In the majority of states, there are limits on the amount you can recover in a legal case. These limits vary from state to state and are generally applicable to both financial and other damages. Certain states also have rules that restrict the time it takes to bring a lawsuit.
Time Limits
Like any lawsuit, there are deadlines that must be followed or the case could be barred. A malpractice lawsuit must generally be filed between two and six years following the time when the mishap occurred. The exact time frame varies by state.
The time limit is complex and it is essential to consult with an attorney right away. The law firm will investigate to determine if there was malpractice and if the case can be heard in court. This can take weeks or even months.
Medical malpractice cases are governed by different laws than other types of cases, and typically, the statute of limitations is extended. In Pennsylvania patients are entitled to two years from the time that they were aware of the error. This is known as the discovery rule.
In some states the statutes of limitation begin to run on the date on which the medical error occurred. This can be an issue when the mistake does not immediately cause symptoms. Imagine, for instance, that a doctor erroneously left a foreign body in the body of the patient following surgery. The patient might not be aware of the foreign object until at least three years after the surgery. In this case the statute of limitation could have begun to begin running from the date of the procedure instead of the moment of discovery of the error.
Expert Witnesses
A lot of medical malpractice cases rely on expert witnesses to help present the facts of the case. The expert of the plaintiff will testify regarding the doctor’s duty to the patient, medical standards for physicians with similar qualifications in their area and specialization, and the ways the defendant deviated from those standards. The expert will discuss why the defendant’s omission directly caused the patient’s injury.
The defendant will hire an expert to challenge the plaintiff’s expert and provide their professional opinion about whether the doctor was able to provide the required care. The experts could disagree but the fact-finder will decide which expert is the most reliable.
It is best for the expert to remain working in the medical profession since they are more knowledgeable about the current practices. Jurors and judges often find practicing professionals more credible than experts whose only source of income is testifying in court.
It is also better to hire an expert with expertise in the field of malpractice. A medical professional who has expertise in treating breast cancer, for example, can make an argument that is convincing as to the reason for an injury. A medical malpractice attorney in Ocala knows which experts to talk to.