Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys have a fiduciary obligation with their clients and are required to conduct themselves with diligence, care and expertise. However, just like any other professional, attorneys make mistakes.

A mistake made by an attorney can be considered malpractice. To prove negligence in a legal sense the aggrieved party must prove the duty, breach of duty, causation and damages. Let's look at each of these aspects.

Duty

Doctors and medical professionals take an oath to apply their knowledge and expertise to treat patients, not causing further harm. The duty of care is the foundation for a patient's right to compensation in the event of injury due to medical negligence. Your lawyer can help determine whether or not your doctor's actions breached this duty of care, and whether those breaches caused injury or illness to you.

Your lawyer must prove that the medical professional owed you a fiduciary duty to act with reasonable competence 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 who have similar knowledge, experience, and education.

Your lawyer will also need to show that the medical professional breached their duty of care by not adhering to the accepted standards of their area of expertise. This is commonly described as negligence. Your lawyer will evaluate what the defendant did to what a reasonable individual would do in the same situation.

Finally, your lawyer must demonstrate that the defendant's breach of duty directly led to injury or loss to you. This is known as causation, and your lawyer will make use of evidence such as your medical records, witness statements and expert testimony to prove that the defendant's failure to uphold the standards of care in your case was the direct cause of your loss or injury.

Breach

A doctor is obligated to patients to perform duties of care that conform to professional standards in medical practice. If a doctor fails to meet the standards, and the failure results in an injury that is medically negligent, negligence may occur. Typically, expert testimony from medical professionals who have the same training, qualifications and experience, as well as certifications and certificates will help determine what the appropriate standard of medical care should be in a particular case. State and federal laws, along with institute policies, define what doctors are expected to do for certain kinds of patients.

To be successful in a malpractice case, it must be proven that the doctor acted in violation of his or her duty to care and that the violation was the primary cause of an injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation element, and it is crucial that it be established. For instance an injured arm requires an x-ray, the doctor has to properly set the arm and place it in a cast to ensure proper healing. If the physician failed to complete the procedure and the patient was left with an irreparable loss of use of that arm, then malpractice may have occurred.

Causation

Lawyer malpractice claims are based on the evidence that the attorney committed mistakes that resuety of ways. Some of the most common mistakes are: failing to meet the deadline or statute of limitations; failing to perform a conflict check on an instance; applying the law in a way that is not appropriate to the client's particular situation; and breaking a fiduciary obligation (i.e. mixing trust funds with personal attorney accounts) or a mishandling of an instance, and failing to communicate with the client.

In the majority of medical alamogordo malpractice Lawsuit cases the plaintiff will seek compensation damages. These compensate the victim for out-of-pocket expenses and losses, like hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment required to aid in healing, as well as lost wages. In addition, victims can be able to claim non-economic damages like pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress.

Legal malpractice cases usually involve claims for compensatory as well as punitive damages. The former compensates a victim for losses caused by the attorney's negligence, while the latter is intended to deter future malpractice by the defendant.