Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys have a fiduciary responsibilities to their clients and they must behave with diligence, skill and care. However, like all professionals attorneys make mistakes.

The mistakes made by an attorney constitutes negligence. To prove that legal malpractice has occurred, the aggrieved party has to prove the breach of duty, duty, causation and damages. Let's look at each of these elements.

Duty

Medical professionals and doctors swear an oath that they will use their skills and experience to treat patients, and not to cause further harm. A patient's legal right to compensation for injuries sustained from medical malpractice is based on the notion of the duty of care. Your lawyer can assist you determine whether or not your doctor's actions violated the duty of care, and if these breaches caused injury or illness to you.

Your lawyer must demonstrate that the medical professional in question owed you an obligation of fiduciary to act with reasonable skill and care. The proof of this relationship may require evidence such as the records of your doctor-patient or eyewitness evidence, or expert testimony from doctors with similar qualifications, experience and education.

Your lawyer will also have to show that the medical professional violated their duty to care by not adhering to the accepted standards in their area of expertise. This is often called negligence. Your lawyer will evaluate the defendant's conduct to what a reasonable person would take in the same scenario.

Finally, your lawyer must demonstrate that the defendant's breach of duty directly led to injury or loss to you. This is called causation. Your attorney will use evidence, such as your doctor/patient records, witness testimony, and expert testimony, to demonstrate that the defendant’s failure to adhere to the standard of care was the sole reason for the loss or injury to you.

Breach

A doctor is obligated to patients to perform duties of care that are consistent with the highest standards of medical professionalism. If a doctor fails to meet these standards, and the resulting failure causes an injury, then medical malpractice or negligence could occur. Typically experts' testimony from medical professionals with similar qualifications, training, certifications and experience will aid in determining what the best standard of treatment should be in a particular situation. State and federal laws as well as institute policies also help define what doctors must do for certain types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice case, it must be shown that the doctor breached his or his duty of care and that this breach was a direct cause of injury. In legal terms, this is called the causation factor and it is vital that it is established. If a doctor has to obtain an xray of a broken arm, they must put the arm in a cast and properly place it. If the doctor was unable to do this and the patient suffered a permanent loss of function of that arm, then byron malpractice Attorney may have occurred.

Causation

Attorney farmington malpractice lawsuit claims rely on evidence that demonstrates that the attornuld have prevented the harm caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is known as proximate cause.

It can happen in a variety of ways. The most frequent mistakes include: not meeting the deadline or statute of limitations; not conducting a conflict check on an issue; applying the law improperly to a client's specific circumstances; and violating a fiduciary obligation (i.e. mixing funds from a trust account with the attorney's personal accounts as well as failing to communicate with the client are all examples of malpractice.

Medical malpractice lawsuits typically involve claims for compensation damages. These compensations compensate the victim for expenses out of pocket and losses such as hospital and medical bills, the cost of equipment to help recover and lost wages. Victims can also seek non-economic damages like pain and discomfort as well as loss of enjoyment from their lives, as well as emotional suffering.

Legal malpractice cases usually involve claims for compensatory and punitive damages. The former compensates the victim for the losses caused by negligence on the part of the attorney while the latter is meant to prevent future mistakes on the part of the defendant.