Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are required to fulfill a fiduciary responsibility to their clients, and they are expected act with a high degree of skill, diligence and care. However, like all professionals, attorneys make mistakes.

There are many mistakes made by attorneys are a result of malpractice. To demonstrate legal malpractice, an victim must prove that there was breach of duty, causation, breach and damage. Let's take a look at each of these aspects.

Duty-Free

Medical professionals and doctors take an oath that they will use their skill and training to treat patients, not cause additional harm. Duty of care is the foundation for a patient's right to compensation for injuries caused by medical malpractice. Your attorney can determine if your doctor's actions violated the duty of care and if these breaches resulted in your injury or illness.

To prove a duty to care, your lawyer has to show that a medical professional had a legal relationship with you and have a fiduciary obligation to act with an acceptable level of skill and care. This relationship may be proven by eyewitness testimony, physician-patient records and expert testimony of doctors who have similar education, experience, and training.

Your lawyer will also have to prove that the medical professional breached their duty of care by failing to adhere to the accepted standards of practice in their area of expertise. This is often called negligence. Your lawyer will examine the defendant's actions with what a reasonable person would do in the same circumstance.

Then, your lawyer has to prove that the defendant's lapse of duty directly resulted in injury or loss to you. This is known as causation. Your lawyer will rely on evidence like your medical or patient records, witness testimony, and expert testimony, to show that the defendant's inability to meet the standards of care was the sole cause of injury or loss to you.

Breach

A doctor owes patients duties of care that conform to the highest standards of medical professionalism. If a doctor fails meet these standards and that failure results in injury, medical malpractice or malpractice negligence could occur. Expert witness testimony from medical professionals that have similar training, certificates, skills and experience can help determine the quality of care in a given situation. Federal and state laws and institute policies can also be used to define what doctors must do for certain types of patients.

To be successful in a malpractice case the evidence must prove that the doctor breached his or her duty of care and that the breach was the primary cause of an injury. In legal terms, this is known as the causation element and it is vital that it is established. If a doctor has to perform an x-ray on a broken arm, they have to put the arm in a cast and then correctly set it. If the doctor was unable to do so and the patient suffered a permanent loss of function of that arm, then malpractice could have occurred.

Causation

Legal malpractice claims founded on the evidence that the lawyer made errors that resulted in financial losses to the client. For instance, if a lawyer fails to file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, leading to the case being lost for ever and the victim could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.

It is important to recognize that not all mistakes made by lawyers constitute wrong. Strategies and planning errors are not typically considered to be negligence. Attorneys have a wide decision-making discretion to make decisions so long as they're rational.

Additionally, the law grants attorneys considerable leeway to fail to conduct discovery on a client's behalf, as in the event that it is not unreasonable or negligent. Legal malpractice law firms can be committed through the failure to uncover important documents or facts, such as medical reports or witness statements. Other examples of malpractice are the failure to include certain defendants or claims, such as failing to include a survival count for the case of wrongful death or the constant failure to communicate with clients.

It is also important to remember the fact that the plaintiff needs to prove that if not due to the lawyer's negligent behavior they would have won their case. If not, the plaintiff's claims for malpractice will be rejected. This makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. Therefore, it's important to choose a seasoned attorney to represent you.

Damages

To win a legal malpractice suit, plaintiffs must show financial losses incurred by the actions of an attorney. In a lawsuit, this needs to be proved with evidence, such as expert testimony and correspondence between the client and attorney. The plaintiff must also show that a reasonable attorney would have prevented the harm caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is known as proximate cause.

Malpractice can occur in many different ways. Some of the most common types of malpractice include the failure to adhere to a deadline, which includes a statute of limitations, failure to conduct a conflict-check or other due diligence on a case, improperly applying law to a client's situation, breaching a fiduciary duty (i.e. mixing trust funds with attorney's personal accounts), mishandling of the case, and failing to communicate with a client.

Medical malpractice lawsuits typically involve claims for compensatory damages. They compensate the victim for out-of-pocket expenses and losses, including hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment needed to aid in recovery, and loss of wages. Victims can also claim non-economic damages, such as discomfort and pain and loss of enjoyment their lives, as well as emotional anxiety.

Legal malpractice cases usually involve claims for compensatory as well as punitive damages. The former compensates the victim for losses caused by the negligence of the attorney, whereas the latter is designed to discourage future malpractice by the defendant.