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Common Causes of Malpractice Litigation

malpractice lawyers litigation is a complicated procedure. If an error is considered to be Malpractice Law is dependent on whether the patient can prove four legal elements: a professional duty; breach of this duty; injury resulted from the breach and damages that can be quantifiable.

Plaintiffs must also prove the elements by using evidence such as expert testimony and depositions.

Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose

A physician's inability to accurately diagnose a disease or injury could lead to serious complications or even death. A large number of medical malpractice compensation cases involve misdiagnosis. To establish negligence, Malpractice Law a patient or their lawyer needs to prove that a seasoned doctor in similar circumstances would not have misdiagnosed a condition.

Not every misdiagnosis is malpractice, however. Even experienced and highly trained doctors make mistakes. Therefore, any claim of malpractice has to be backed by other elements, such as breach, proximate cause and actual injury. If a doctor fails sterilize his equipment prior the time he administers anesthesia, and the patient is infected because of this, the doctor may be held accountable.

In most instances, lawsuits claiming that there was a mistake will be filed in the state trial court in which the alleged malpractice took place. Federal courts could however have jurisdiction in certain situations. For instance, a lawsuit could be filed in federal court if it is a dispute over the time limit or if there is a substantial diversity of citizenship of the parties involved in the case. Additionally, some cases are settled through voluntary binding arbitration. This is a less formal process which involves professionals who make the decisions. It is designed to minimize expenses, speed up the legal process, and reduce the risk that comes with generous juries. However, arbitration is not available for all claims of malpractice.

Dosage for a drug that is not correct

Medication errors, often referred to as medication errors, are one of the main reasons for medical malpractice suits. They can result from a doctor prescribing a prescription in error or delivering the wrong dose to patients. These errors are typically preventable. In certain circumstances, a hospital staff member, a pharmacist or other health care providers could be held accountable for the harms suffered by patients who were given the wrong drug dosage.

A doctor could prescribe the incorrect medication to a patient because of an inaccurate diagnosis or simply by misreading the prescription. A health care professional could also prescribe the wrong dose due to an inability to communicate for example, when a nurse reads the doctor's handwritten script in error or the pharmacist is mistaken in filling out the prescription. In other cases the doctor could delay the proper medication, which could cause the patient's illness to getting worse.

A person seeking compensation must prove, for the sake of winning a malpractice claim that the medical professional breached their standards of practice and that their injuries were directly caused by the negligence. This requires medical expert testimony. Furthermore, a medical negligence case must prove the extent of the victim's injuries as well as the damage they sustained as a result of the negligence. This includes the costs of treatment for a patient and any wages lost. Generally, the greater a loss is and the greater the value of the claim will be.

Incorrect Procedure

It might seem unlikely that medical professionals would perform the incorrect procedure on a patient but this type of incident can occur. The surgeon who makes this mistake could be held accountable for negligence. However patients who are injured due to a surgical error could also be held accountable for any negligence that occurred along the process.

A health care professional accused of negligence must prove that a patient was injured by the specific act or failure to take action. To establish this the legal team representing the patient must show: (1) that the doctor was legally obligated to care for or treat the patient; (2) that he failed to fulfill his obligation; (3) that a causal link exists between the breach and the injury; and (4) the harm results in damages that the legal system can address.

A breach of duty of care is no meaning unless it result in injury. This is the reason why medical malpractice lawsuit cases are usually built on the legal principle "res ipsa locquitur" which states that certain injuries are so obvious they can be explained only by negligence.

Depending on the circumstances of the situation, the plaintiff (the patient or their legally appointed representative) or their attorney can make the claim in a federal or state court. The majority of malpractice cases are filed with state courts, but in certain situations, a medical negligence lawsuit can be brought to federal district court.

Wrong Surgery

The procedure that is performed on the wrong site is not common, but can be considered medical malpractice if the procedure is performed in the wrong part of your body. This type of mistake is often caused by miscommunications between the surgical team, or by production pressures that lead to surgeons having multiple surgeries assigned at once. In these situations the surgeon isn't solely responsible for his or her responsibility for a surgery that was performed on the wrong site since there is a legal rule known as "res ipsa loquitur" which means that the result of the error is evident and cannot be attributed to negligence.

When a patient is injured due to surgery performed on the wrong site it is possible that he or she will require additional treatments to correct problems exacerbated due to the surgical error. Patients and their family members are left with hefty medical bills. It is important to take these costs into account when calculating the financial cost of medical malpractice lawsuits.

Most often surgeons are liable for surgical mistakes. They are accountable in preparing the patient prior to the procedure, checking the medical record and chart of the patient, communicating with the medical team, and ensuring that the incision was placed in the proper location. In certain instances hospitals or anesthesiologists could also be held accountable. Medical malpractice claims are generally filed in state courts, but may be transferred in certain circumstances to federal court.