11 Strategies To Completely Redesign Your Medical Malpractice Law

Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

A medical malpractice lawyer (read article) helps injured patients receive compensation for their losses. The legal system that governs medical malpractice cases is built on common law.

In common law, doctors are expected to adhere to a certain level of care when treating patients. If a doctor is not following the accepted medical practices and results in an injury or death or even death, he could be held responsible for negligence.

Duty of Care

Medical professionals are expected to follow a set of standards accepted by the medical industry as being prudent and reasonable when they provide healthcare. A patient could be eligible to file a claim for medical malpractice if the standards aren't adhered to and the failure results in injuries or health problems.

The first step in a malpractice claim involves establishing that you had an arrangement with a doctor-patient healthcare provider and that the entity or person was bound to act in a reasonable way. You must then prove the breach occurred. This is typically done with the use of experts who can provide an objective analysis and assessment of the situation.

An expert witness can determine whether the defendant's actions were below the accepted standard in your situation. To allow the expert to arrive at this conclusion, they will need to be able to examine your medical records and Medical Malpractice Lawyer conduct an examination or interview of you.

You also need to prove that the breach of duty directly led you to experience injury. Causation is the third factor in a malpractice claim. In the majority of cases, you'll require a direct cause & effect relationship between the breach of duty and the resulting injury. A misdiagnosis, for instance, could lead to the wrong medication being prescribed or treatment being administered. This could cause an adverse reaction such as a heart attack.

Breach of Duty

Like everyone else who are legally obligated to act, doctors also have an obligation to act with care and prudence. Doctors are held to higher standards due to the fact that they are medical experts who make life-or-death decisions. The duty of care is found in the regulations and laws for specific kinds of treatments and procedures.

One of the first elements that must be established in a negligence lawsuit is that the defendant was bound by a duty care to the plaintiff. It must be proved 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 usually defined by what an average person would do in similar circumstances. For instance, a reasonable driver would not run a red light.

In a malpractice case, experts are often required to testify about the standards of care and how it was violated. They can also provide what caused the injury and explain how they could have prevented it.

Damages

In the United States, physicians are required to carry malpractice insurance to cover any potential losses that might arise from medical negligence. In order 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 you receive from a successful malpractice suit depends on how well your New York medical malpractice attorney defends your losses. Your attorney can prove your medically necessary expenses through a review your medical records, the testimony of experts and the assistance of economic experts. For your loss of earnings, your medical malpractice lawyer has to show the number of times you were absent from work due to medical issues and the fact that the absences resulted from the negligence of the defendant.

Non-economic losses can be more difficult to prove and could require the assistance of a professional who will be able to testify about your physical, emotional and mental suffering because of the negligence committed by the defendant. Other kinds of non-economic damages include loss of consortium, which is an inability to maintain a sexually satisfying and loving relationship in the same way you used to with your spouse or your significant other. The attorney representing the defendant will challenge your non-economic losses through a process of interrogatories, depositions, and demands for documents and declarations under swearing.

Statute of Limitations

Like all states, New York has a statute of limitations that must be met before a medical malpractice claim can be filed. Otherwise the court will decide to dismiss it. An experienced New York medical malpractice lawyer is well-versed in these details and will make sure that your claim is filed prior to the deadlines established by law.

In most cases, the victim of medical negligence must be able to file a lawsuit within two and a half years from the time the act or omission made by medical professionals caused death or injury. However like all laws there are a few exceptions to this rule. For instance when the error made by the health care professional was part of a continuous course of treatment, the 30-month statutory "clock" will not start until the treatment is completed or until the patient learns of the diagnosis.

In certain instances patients may not discover the problem until quite a while later for instance the case where a foreign body remains in the body following surgery or treatment. To address this issue, the majority of states have implemented the discovery rule. This permits injured victims in certain situations to extend their timeframes. Your attorney will be aware of specific laws in your state and will examine your case's timeline to ensure that there are no administrative mistakes that could delay your claim.