Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys have a fiduciary obligation with their clients and are expected to conduct themselves with care, diligence and ability. Attorneys make mistakes, as do other professional.

There are many mistakes made by lawyers are a result of malpractice. To prove that legal malpractice has occurred, the aggrieved person must demonstrate that there was breach of duty, causation, breach and damage. Let's examine each of these aspects.

Duty

Doctors and other medical professionals swear to use their education and skills to cure patients and not cause harm to others. The legal right of a patient to compensation for injuries sustained from medical malpractice is based on the notion of the duty of care. Your attorney can help you determine whether or not your doctor's actions violated this duty of care, and whether those breaches caused injuries or illness to you.

To establish a duty of care, your lawyer will need to show that a medical professional had a legal relationship with you and had a fiduciary obligation to perform their duties with reasonable expertise 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 experience, education and training.

Your lawyer will also have to prove that the medical professional breached their duty of care by not submitting to the standards of practice that are accepted in their area of expertise. This is commonly known as negligence. Your attorney will compare the actions of the defendant to what a reasonable person would do in a similar situation.

In addition, your lawyer must prove that the defendant's lapse of duty directly resulted in the loss or injury you suffered. This is referred to as causation. Your attorney will use evidence such as your doctor-patient records, witness statements and expert testimony to demonstrate that the defendant's failure to adhere to the standards of care in your case was the direct cause of your injury or loss.

Breach

A doctor has a responsibility of care to his patients that reflects professional medical standards. If a physician fails to meet those standards, and the failure results in an injury, then medical malpractice or negligence could occur. Expert witness testimony from medical professionals that possess similar qualifications, training as well as experience and qualifications can help determine the standard of care for a specific situation. Federal and state laws, along with guidelines from the institute, help define what doctors are expected to do for certain types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice case it must be proven that the doctor breached his or their duty of care, and that the breach was the direct cause of an injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation element, and it is crucial that it is established. If a physician has to take an x-ray of a broken arm, they must put the arm in a casting and correctly set it. If the doctor was unable to do this and the patient was left with an irreparable loss of the use of the arm, then malpractice could have occurred.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims rely on evidence that shows the attorney's errors resulted in financial losses for the client. For instance the lawyer fails to file a lawsuit within the prescribed time of limitations, resulting in the case being lost for ever the person who was injured could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.

It is important to realize that not all errors made by attorneys are mistakes that constitute malpractice. Strategies and planning errors aren't usually considered to be a sign of misconduct. Attorneys have a broad range of discretion in making decisions as long as they're rational.

The law also allows lawyers considerable latitude to not perform discovery for a client as long as the error was not unreasonable or a result of negligence. The failure to discover crucial information or documents like medical reports or statements of witnesses or medical reports, could be an instance of legal malpractice law firms. Other examples of malpractice are a inability to include certain claims or defendants such as failing to file a survival count in a case of wrongful death or the consistent and prolonged inability to communicate with a client.

It is also important to remember the fact that the plaintiff needs to prove that if not for the lawyer's negligent conduct, they could have won their case. If not, the plaintiff's claims for malpractice will be rejected. This requirement makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. For this reason, it's important to find an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

A plaintiff must prove that the attorney's actions caused actual financial losses to win a legal malpractice suit. In a lawsuit, this needs to be proven through evidence, like expert testimony or correspondence between the attorney and client. In addition, the plaintiff must prove that a reasonable lawyer could have prevented the harm caused by the attorney's negligence. This is called proximate causation.

The act of malpractice can be triggered in a variety of different ways. The most frequent types of malpractice include failing to adhere to a deadline, which includes the statute of limitation, failure to conduct a check on conflicts or other due diligence check on the case, not applying the law to a client's case, breaching a fiduciary duty (i.e. commingling trust account funds with personal attorney accounts), mishandling of a case, and failing to communicate with a client.

Medical malpractice lawsuits typically involve claims for compensatory damages. These compensate the victim for out-of-pocket expenses and losses, like hospital and medical bills, the cost of equipment that aids in recovering, and lost wages. Additionally, victims may claim non-economic damages, like suffering and suffering as well as loss of enjoyment life, and emotional distress.

In a lot of legal malpractice lawyer cases, there are cases for punitive and compensatory damages. The first compensates the victim for the losses caused by the attorney's negligence while the latter is designed to discourage any future malpractice on the part of the defendant.