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Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are in a fiduciary position with their clients and are required to behave with diligence, care and expertise. But, as with all professionals, attorneys make mistakes.

Every mistake made by an attorney constitutes malpractice. To prove legal malpractice, an victim must prove obligation, breach, causation and damages. Let's take a look at each of these elements.

Duty

Doctors and other medical professionals swear to apply their education and skills to cure patients and not cause further harm. The legal right of a patient to receive compensation for injuries resulting from medical malpractice hinges on the notion of the duty of care. Your attorney can assist you determine if the actions of your doctor violated this duty of care, and if those breaches caused harm or illness to your.

To establish a duty of care, your lawyer must to prove that a medical professional has a legal relationship with you that were bound by a fiduciary duty to perform their duties with reasonable skill and care. The proof of this relationship may require evidence, such as the records of your doctor and patient or eyewitness evidence, or expert testimony from doctors who have similar experience, education and training.

Your lawyer will also need to establish that the medical professional breached their duty of care by failing to adhere to the accepted standards in their field. This is often called negligence. Your attorney will evaluate the defendant's conduct to what a reasonable individual would perform in the same situation.

Your lawyer must also prove that the breach of the defendant's duty led directly to your loss or injury. This is referred to as causation. Your lawyer will use evidence like your doctor or patient records, witness testimony, and expert testimony, to show that the defendant's failure to comply with the standard of care was the direct cause of injury or loss to you.

Breach

A doctor is responsible for the duties of care that reflect the standards of medical professional practice. If a doctor fails to live up to those standards and that failure causes injury, then negligence and medical malpractice might occur. Expert witness testimony from medical professionals that have similar training, certifications and skills can help determine the quality of care for a specific situation. State and federal laws, along with institute policies, help define what doctors are required to do for certain kinds of patients.

To win a malpractice case it must be proven that the doctor violated his or their duty of care, and that the breach was the direct cause of injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation element, and it is imperative to establish. If a doctor needs to take an x-ray of an injured arm, they must put the arm in a casting and correctly set it. If the doctor was unable to do this and the patient suffered permanent loss of function of that arm, then malpractice could have occurred.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims rely on evidence that shows the attorney's mistakes caused financial losses to the client. For instance when a lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the statute of limitations, leading to the case being lost for ever and the victim can bring legal malpractice actions.

It is crucial to be aware that not all errors made by attorneys are malpractice. Mistakes in strategy and planning do not typically constitute malpractice, and attorneys have the ability to make judgment calls as long as they are reasonable.

Likewise, the law gives attorneys a lot of discretion to conduct discovery on behalf of a client, so provided that the decision was not unreasonable or negligent. Inability to find important information or documents, such as medical reports or witness statements can be a case of legal malpractice. Other examples of malpractice include a failure to add certain defendants or claims such as omitting to file a survival count in a wrongful-death case or the consistent and extended inability to contact a client.

It's also important to keep in mind that it has to be proven that if it weren't the negligence of the lawyer, the plaintiff would have won the case. If not, the plaintiff's claims for malpractice will be rejected. This requirement makes bringing legal malpractice claims difficult. Therefore, it's essential to choose an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

To win a legal malpractice lawsuit plaintiffs must show financial losses resulting from the actions of the attorney. In the case of a lawsuit this has to be proven with evidence such as expert testimony and correspondence between the attorney and the client. A plaintiff must also demonstrate that a reasonable lawyer could have prevented the damage caused by the negligence of the lawyer. This is referred to as proximate cause.

Malpractice can occur in many different ways. Some of the most common types of malpractice include: failing to meet a deadline, including a statute of limitations, failure to conduct a conflict check or other due diligence on the case, not applying the law to the client's situation and breaching a fiduciary responsibility (i.e. the commingling of funds from a trust account the attorney's personal accounts, mishandling a case and failing to communicate with the client are all examples of malpractice.

Medical malpractice lawyer suits typically involve claims for compensatory damages. They compensate the victim for the expenses out of pocket and losses, like medical and hospital bills, costs of equipment needed to aid in recovering, and lost wages. Victims can also seek non-economic damages such as discomfort and pain as well as loss of enjoyment from their lives, and emotional suffering.

Legal malpractice cases often involve claims for compensatory and punitive damages. The former compensates a victim for losses resulting from the negligence of the attorney, whereas the latter is designed to deter future malpractice by the defendant.