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Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are required to fulfill a fiduciary responsibility to their clients, and they are expected act with diligence, skill and care. However, just like any other professional, attorneys make mistakes.

A mistake made by an attorney can be considered legal malpractice. To prove negligence in a legal sense the person who was hurt must prove the duty, breach of obligation, causation, and damage. Let's take a look at each of these elements.

Duty-Free

Medical professionals and doctors take an oath to use their skill and training to treat patients, and not to cause further harm. The duty of care is the basis for the right of patients to receive compensation in the event of injury due to medical malpractice. Your lawyer can assist you determine whether or not the actions of your doctor violated this duty of care, and if those breaches caused injury or illness to you.

Your lawyer has to prove that the medical professional was bound by a fiduciary duty to act with reasonable skill and care. This can be demonstrated by eyewitness testimony of witnesses, doctor-patient documents and expert testimony from doctors who have similar educational, experience and training.

Your lawyer will also have to prove that the medical professional violated their duty to care by failing to adhere to the accepted standards in their field. This is commonly called negligence. Your lawyer will be able to compare what the defendant did with what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.

Your lawyer must show that the defendant's breach of duty directly caused the loss or injury you suffered. This is referred to as causation. Your lawyer will use evidence, such as your doctor/patient records, witness testimony and expert testimony to prove that the defendant's failure to meet the standards of care was the main cause of injury or loss to you.

Breach

A doctor is responsible for the duties of care that adhere to professional medical standards. If a doctor fails meet those standards and the failure results in injury, then medical malpractice or negligence could occur. Expert witness testimony from medical professionals that have the same training, certifications and skills can help determine the standard of care in a particular situation. State and federal laws as well as institute policies also help determine what doctors are required to perform for specific types of patients.

To be successful in a malpractice case it must be established that the doctor acted in violation of his or her duty to care and that this violation was the sole cause of an injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation component and it is crucial to prove it. If a physician has to take an x-ray of a broken arm, they must put the arm in a cast and properly set it. If the doctor is unable to do this and the patient suffers a permanent loss of usage of the arm, then malpractice may be at play.

Causation

Lawyer malpractice claims are built on the basis of evidence that the attorney committed errors that resulted in financial losses to the client. For instance, if a lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, resulting in the case being lost for ever, the injured party could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.

However, it's important to recognize that not all mistakes made by attorneys are wrong. Planning and strategy errors aren't usually considered to be a sign of misconduct. Attorneys have a broad choice of discretion when it comes to making decisions so long as they're in the right place.

The law also gives attorneys considerable leeway to fail to conduct a discovery process on behalf of a client, so in the event that it is not negligent or unreasonable. Legal malpractice is committed through the failure to uncover important documents or evidence, such as medical reports or witness statements. Other instances of malpractice include the failure to include certain defendants or claims, like forgetting a survival count for wrongful death cases, or the repeated failure to communicate with clients.

It is also important to remember that it must be established that, had it not been the lawyer's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the case. If not, the plaintiff's claims for malpractice will be denied. This makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. It's crucial to hire an experienced attorney.

Damages

In order to prevail in a legal malpractice case, a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses caused by the actions of the attorney. This has to be demonstrated in a lawsuit using evidence such as expert testimony, correspondence between client and attorney along with billing records and other documentation. The plaintiff must also show that a reasonable attorney could have prevented the harm caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is known as proximate cause.

Malpractice can manifest in a number of different ways. Some of the more common types of malpractice include failing to meet a deadline, for example, a statute of limitations, failing to conduct a conflict-check or other due diligence check on the case, malpractice lawsuits not applying law to a client's situation and breaching a fiduciary responsibility (i.e. mixing trust funds with an attorney's personal accounts) or a mishandling of a case, and failing to communicate with a client.

In most medical malpractice cases the plaintiff will seek compensation damages. These compensate the victim for the out-of-pocket expenses and losses, including hospital and medical bills, the cost of equipment required to aid in recovery, and loss of wages. Victims can also claim non-economic damages, such as pain and discomfort, loss of enjoyment of their lives, and emotional stress.

Legal malpractice law firms cases usually involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The former compensates victims for the losses caused by the negligence of the attorney, while the latter is designed to deter future malpractice by the defendant.