This Is The Ultimate Guide To Medical Malpractice Law > 자유게시판

Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

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

In common law, doctors are required to adhere to a standard of care in treating their patients. If a physician does not follow accepted medical practice and it results in a death or injury or even death, he could be held responsible for negligence.

Duty of Care

Medical professionals are required to adhere to a set standard accepted by the medical industry as being prudent and reasonable when providing healthcare. When those standards are not met and that failure causes injuries or health issues patients may have grounds to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The first step in a malpractice claim is to establish that you had a doctor-patient relationship with the healthcare provider at issue and that the entity or person had a legal obligation to act in a reasonable manner. Then, you need to prove that a breach of that duty occurred. This is usually accomplished by using expert testimony that can provide a objective analysis and evaluation.

This expert witness can help determine whether the defendant's actions are less than the accepted standard in your situation. In order for the expert to determine this, they will need to be able review your medical records and conduct an examination or interview with you.

You must also be able to establish that the breach of duty caused you to suffer injuries. This is known as causation, and it is the third component of a negligence claim. In the majority of cases, you will need to have an obvious cause-and effect relationship between the breach of duty and subsequent injury. For example, a misdiagnosis could result in the wrong treatment or medication being administered, which could result in an adverse reaction, such as a heart attack.

Breach of Duty

Physicians, like all other individuals, have a legal obligation to exercise reasonable care and with caution. However, doctors are held to a higher standard because they are medical experts who make life and death decisions. The duty of care is outlined in the regulations and laws for specific kinds of treatments and procedures.

In a negligence case it is important to establish that the defendant had the duty of care for the plaintiff. It must be proven that the defendant did not fulfill this duty of care. This means that the doctor did not meet the standards of care in the given situation. The standard of care is typically determined by what a reasonable individual would do in the same situation. A reasonable driver, for instance would not operate the traffic light.

In a case of negligence, experts are usually needed to testify on the standard of care and how it was violated. They can also provide a detailed explanation of the cause of the injury and what could have been done to avoid it from occurring.

Damages

In the United States, physicians are required to have malpractice insurance to cover any losses that might arise due to medical negligence. To submit a claim for damages the plaintiff must show actual financial losses (such as medical expenses and lost wages) as well as non-economic losses (such as pain and suffering).

The amount you are awarded from a successful malpractice case is contingent upon how your New York medical malpractice lawyer defends your losses. Your attorney will be able to prove your medically necessary expenses by examining your medical records, evidence from experts as well as the assistance of economic experts. Your medical malpractice lawyer must prove the loss of your earnings by proving the number of days you were absent from work due to medical complications, and the fact that these days were due to the negligence of the defendant.

Non-economic damages are more difficult to prove. You may need assistance from a professional witness who can detail your mental, physical, and emotional pain that is directly resulting from the defendant's negligence. Other types of non-economic losses include loss of consortium, which is an inability to maintain a loving and sexual relationship as you once could with your spouse or significant other. The lawyer for the defendant will attempt to challenge your non-economic damages by a process of interrogatories and depositions as well as demands for documents and declarations under oath.

Statute of limitations

In New York, as with every state, there are definite deadlines - commonly referred to as statutes of limitations - within which a medical malpractice law firms negligence lawsuit must be filed, or otherwise it will be rejected by the courts. An experienced New York medical malpractice lawyer is well-versed in these details and will make sure that your claim is filed before the deadlines established by law.

In most instances, the victim of medical malpractice must present a lawsuit within two and a half years of the date when the act or omission of a health care provider caused the injury or death. As with all laws this rule is not without exceptions. For instance in the event that the error by the health professional was part of a continuous course of treatment, the 30-month legally required "clock" will not start until the course of treatment is completed or the patient learns about the diagnosis.

In certain instances it is possible that a patient will not be aware of the issue until quite a while later, for example, if a foreign body remains within the body after surgery or treatment. In order to address this issue, the majority of states have implemented what is known as the discovery rule. This allows injured victims in certain situations to extend their timeframes. Your lawyer will be familiar with the laws of your state and will go over your case's timeline carefully to avoid any administrative errors that could cause delays to your claim.