Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

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

According to common law, doctors are expected to follow a certain standard of care when treating patients. If a doctor is not following the accepted medical practices and causes an injury or death the doctor could be held accountable for negligence.

Duty of Care

Medical professionals must adhere to set of standards that are recognized by the medical profession as being reasonable and prudent in providing healthcare. When those standards are not followed and the result is injuries or health issues the patient may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The first element in a case of malpractice is to prove that you were a patient of the healthcare provider and that they owed you a duty to act reasonably. You must then prove the breach occurred. This is usually done through the recourse to expert witnesses who can provide an objective analysis and assessment of the case.

An expert witness can determine whether the defendant's actions were below the standard of care in your particular case. To enable the expert to arrive at this conclusion, they will need to be able to look over 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. Causation is the third factor in a claim for malpractice. In most cases you will require a direct cause and result relationship between the breach of duties and the resulting injury. A mistake in diagnosis, for instance can result in prescribing the wrong medication or treatment being administered. This in turn can cause an adverse reaction such as a heart attack.

Breach of Duty

Physicians, Vimeo like all other individuals, have a legal duty to act with reasonable care and with caution. However doctors are held to a higher standard because they are chapel hill medical malpractice attorney experts and have to make life and death decisions. The duty of care can be found in the laws and standards that govern certain types of treatments and procedures.

In a case of negligence, it is important to establish that the defendant owed the duty of care for the plaintiff. Then, it has to be proved that the defendant violated that duty of care. This means that the doctor failed to meet the standard of care in the particular circumstance. The quality of care is usually determined by what a reasonable person would do in the situation. A reasonable driver, for instance would not operate the traffic light.

In a case of negligence, experts are usually needed to testify about the standard of care and how it was violated. They can also explain how the injury occurred and what could be done to stop it from happening.

Damages

In the United States, physicians are required to carry malpractice insurance in order to cover any potential losses that might arise due to medical negligence. In order to file a claim, the plaintiff will need to show both financial losses (such medical expenses and lost wages) and noneconomic losses (such pain and suffering).

The amount of compensation you receive in a successful lawsuit is contingent upon how well your New York medical malpractice attorney defends your losses. Your attorney can establish your medically necessary expenses through a review your medical records, testimony from experts and the assistance of economic experts. In order to prove your loss of earnings the medical malpractice lawyer has to establish the number of days you were absent from work due to medical issues and the fact that the absences were the result of the defendant's negligence.

Non-economic damages can be more difficult to prove and may require the help of a professional who will testify about your physical, emotional and mental suffering because of the negligent actions of the defendant. Loss of consortium is a second type of non-economic harm. It is the inability to have an intimate, sexual relationship with your spouse or other significant person in the same way you once did. The attorney representing the defendant will challenge your non-economic damages by a process of interrogatories and depositions as well as requests for statements and documents under oath.

Statute of Limitations

Like every state, New York has a statute of limitations that must be fulfilled before a medical malpractice claim can be filed. If not the court will decide to dismiss it. An experienced New York medical malpractice lawyer is familiar with these nuances and will ensure that your case is filed prior to the deadlines that are set by law.

In the majority of cases, a victim of medical negligence has to bring a suit within two and a half years from the date the act or omission by the health professional resulted in the injury or death. However like with all laws there are some exceptions to this rule. If, for instance, the error made by the health care provider was part of a continuing treatment plan, then the "clock" of 30 months will not start until the treatment is completed or the patient is informed of the diagnosis.

In some instances, a patient may not discover the problem until a long time later for instance, if a foreign body remains within the body after surgery or treatment. For this reason, most states have enacted a legal concept called the discovery rule, which allows injured victims to extend these deadlines in certain circumstances. Your lawyer will be aware of the rules of your state and will go over your case timeline carefully to avoid administrative errors that could impede your claim.