Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys have a fiduciary connection with their clients and are required to behave with diligence, care and competence. However, like all professionals attorneys make mistakes.

Not all mistakes made by lawyers are malpractice. To prove negligence in a legal sense the person who was hurt must prove duty, breach of duty, causation, and damage. Let's look at each of these components.

Duty-Free

Doctors and other medical professionals swear to use their education and skills to cure patients and not to cause harm to others. The duty of care is the foundation for patients' right to compensation in the event of injury due to medical malpractice. Your lawyer can assist you determine if the actions of your doctor violated this duty of care, and if those breaches caused injury or illness to you.

To establish a duty of care, your lawyer must to prove that a medical professional had an legal relationship with you that owed you a fiduciary responsibility to exercise an acceptable level of competence and care. This relationship can be established by eyewitness testimony, doctor-patient documents and expert testimony from doctors who have similar education, experience, and training.

Your lawyer must also demonstrate that the medical professional breached their duty of care by failing to adhere to the accepted standards of practice in their area of expertise. This is often referred to as negligence. Your attorney will evaluate the defendant's conduct to what a reasonable individual would take in the same scenario.

Finally, your lawyer must show that the defendant's breach of duty directly resulted in injury or loss to you. This is known as causation, and your lawyer will make use of evidence such as your medical documents, malpractice witness statements, and expert testimony to prove that the defendant's failure to meet the standard of care in your case was the direct cause of your injury or loss.

Breach

A doctor has a responsibility of care to his patients that is in line with professional medical standards. If a doctor does not meet the standards, and the result is an injury or medical malpractice, then negligence can occur. Typically, expert testimony from medical professionals with similar qualifications, training and certifications will aid in determining what the best standard of care is in a particular circumstance. Federal and state laws, as well as policies of the institute, help define what doctors are expected to do for certain types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit it must be proved that the doctor breached his or her duty of care and that the breach was the sole cause of an injury. In legal terms, this is known as the causation component, and it is essential that it is established. For instance, if a broken arm requires an xray, the doctor has to properly fix the arm and place it in a cast to ensure proper healing. If the doctor is unable to complete this task and the patient suffers a permanent loss of the use of their arm, malpractice could have occurred.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims rely on evidence that demonstrates that the attorney's errors resulted in financial losses for the client. For example when a lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the prescribed time of limitations, resulting in the case being lost forever the person who was injured can bring legal malpractice actions.

It's important to know that not all mistakes made by attorneys constitute malpractice. Strategy and planning errors aren't usually considered to be a sign of misconduct. Attorneys have a wide range of discretion in making decisions, as long as they're reasonable.

The law also grants attorneys an enormous amount of discretion to not conduct discovery on behalf of a client as long as the decision was not arbitrary or a result of negligence. Failing to discover important documents or facts like medical reports or statements of witnesses, is a potential example of legal malpractice. Other examples of malpractice include a inability to include certain claims or defendants such as omitting to submit a survival count in a wrongful death case or the frequent and prolonged failure to communicate with the client.

It's also important to keep in mind that it must be proved that but for the lawyer's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the case. The claim of the plaintiff for malpractice will be dismissed if it is not proven. This makes it very difficult to file an action for legal malpractice. It is important to employ an experienced attorney.

Damages

To prevail in a legal malpractice lawsuit plaintiffs must show financial losses that result from the actions of an attorney. This can be proven in a lawsuit by utilizing evidence such as expert testimony, correspondence between the client and attorney as well as billing records and other documents. A plaintiff must also demonstrate that a reasonable attorney could have prevented the harm caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is referred to as proximate causation.

Malpractice occurs in many ways. Some of the most common malpractices include: failing an expiration date or statute of limitations; not conducting an examination of a conflict on a case; applying the law improperly to a client's particular situation; and breaking the fiduciary obligation (i.e. the commingling of trust account funds with attorney's personal accounts) and mishandling the case, and not communicating with clients.

Medical malpractice suits typically involve claims for compensatory damages. The compensations pay for expenses out of pocket and losses such as medical and hospitals bills, the cost of equipment to aid recovery, and lost wages. Additionally, victims may be able to claim non-economic damages like suffering and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress.

In a lot of legal malpractice cases, there are claims for punitive and compensatory damages. The first compensates victims for losses caused by the attorney's negligence while the latter is meant to discourage any future malpractice by the defendant's side.