공지사항

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are in a fiduciary position with their clients and are expected to behave with diligence, care and ability. But, as with all professionals attorneys make mistakes.

A mistake made by an attorney can be considered an act of malpractice. To prove negligence in a legal sense the person who was hurt must prove the breach of duty, duty, causation and damages. Let's take a look at each of these components.

Duty-Free

Doctors and other medical professionals swear to use their training and experience to treat patients and not cause harm to others. Duty of care is the basis for the right of patients to receive compensation when they suffer injuries due to medical malpractice claim. Your lawyer can help determine whether or not the actions of your doctor violated this duty of care, and if those breaches caused injury or illness to you.

Your lawyer must establish that the medical professional owed you the fiduciary obligation to act with reasonable competence and care. Proving that this relationship existed may require evidence, such as the records of your doctor-patient, eyewitness statements and expert testimony from doctors who have similar knowledge, experience, and education.

Your lawyer will also need to establish that the medical professional violated their duty to care in not adhering to the accepted standards of their field. This is usually described as negligence. Your lawyer will evaluate what the defendant did with what a reasonable individual would do in the same situation.

Your lawyer must prove that the defendant's lapse of duty directly led to damage or loss to you. This is referred to as causation. Your attorney will use evidence such as your doctor-patient documents, witness statements and expert testimony to prove that the defendant's inability to adhere to the standard of care in your case was a direct cause of your loss or injury.

Breach

A doctor owes patients duties of care that adhere to professional standards in medical practice. If a doctor does not adhere to these standards and the result is an injury, then medical malpractice lawsuit or negligence could result. Typically the testimony of medical professionals who have similar training, Malpractice Law expertise and certifications will help determine what the appropriate standard of medical care should be in a particular case. Federal and state laws and institute policies also help determine what doctors should do for certain types of patients.

To be successful in a malpractice Law case it must be established that the doctor did not fulfill his or her duty to care and that the violation was the sole cause of an injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation component and it is crucial that it is established. For instance in the event that a damaged arm requires an xray the doctor should properly fix the arm and place it in a cast for proper healing. If the doctor fails to perform this, and the patient is left with a permanent loss of the use of the arm, then malpractice may have taken place.

Causation

Legal malpractice claims are based on the evidence that the lawyer made errors that resulted in financial losses to the client. Legal malpractice claims may be brought by the party who suffered the loss for example, if the attorney does not file the lawsuit within the timeframe of the statute of limitations and the case being thrown out forever.

However, it's important to understand that not all mistakes made by attorneys constitute illegal. The mistakes that involve strategy and planning are not usually considered to be malpractice, and attorneys have plenty of discretion in making judgment calls so long as they are reasonable.

The law also gives attorneys ample discretion to refrain from performing discovery on behalf of a client in the event that the error was not unreasonable or a result of negligence. Legal malpractice is committed when a lawyer fails to find important documents or facts, like medical reports or witness statements. Other examples of malpractice are the failure to include certain defendants or claims, for instance the mistake of not remembering a survival number for the case of wrongful death or the recurrent failure to communicate with clients.

It is also important to remember the fact that the plaintiff has to show that if it wasn't due to the lawyer's negligent behavior, they would have prevailed. The claim of malpractice by the plaintiff will be rejected if it's not proved. This is why it's difficult to file a legal malpractice compensation claim. It is important to employ an experienced attorney.

Damages

To prevail in a legal malpractice case, plaintiffs must show financial losses incurred by the actions of an attorney. In the case of a lawsuit this has to be demonstrated using evidence, such as expert testimony and correspondence between the attorney and client. The plaintiff must also show that a reasonable attorney would have prevented the harm caused by the lawyer's negligence. This is called proximate causation.

It can happen in a variety of ways. The most frequent mistakes are: failing to meet an expiration date or statute of limitations; not performing an investigation into a conflict in a case; applying the law incorrectly to a client's situation; or breaking the fiduciary obligation (i.e. the commingling of trust account funds with personal attorney accounts) or mishandling the case, or failing to communicate with the client.

Medical malpractice suits typically involve claims for compensation damages. These compensate the victim for expenses out of pocket and losses, such as hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment needed to aid in healing, as well as lost wages. Victims may also claim non-economic damages, such as pain and discomfort, loss of enjoyment of their lives, as well as emotional suffering.

Legal malpractice cases typically involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The former compensates victims for losses resulting from the attorney's negligence, while the latter is intended to discourage future misconduct by the defendant.