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Why You Need a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

A medical malpractice lawyer can help victims get compensation for their losses. The common law system regulates medical malpractice lawsuits.

In the common law, doctors must observe an ethical standard when treating their patients. If a doctor violates accepted medical practices and results in injury or death, the doctor could be held accountable for negligence.

Duty of Care

Medical professionals are expected to follow a set of standards accepted by the medical industry as being reasonable and prudent when they provide treatment. When those standards are not followed and if they cause injury or health complications patients may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The initial step of a malpractice claim involves establishing that you had a doctor-patient relationship with the healthcare provider in question and that the entity or person had a legal obligation to act with reasonable care. The next step is to prove the breach of the obligation occurred. This is typically done with the use of expert testimony that can provide an objective analysis and evaluation of the situation.

This expert witness can help determine whether the defendant's actions fell not in line with the accepted standards in your case. To enable the expert to make this determination they must be able to review your medical malpractice lawyers records and conduct an examination or interview of you.

You must be able to demonstrate that the breach directly led to your injury. Causation is the third factor in a malpractice lawsuit. In most instances, you'll need to have an exact cause-and-effect link between the breach of duty and the resulting injury. A misdiagnosis for instance may result in prescribing the wrong medicine or treatment being administered. This could cause an adverse reaction such as heart attacks.

Breach of Duty

Like all doctors physicians, doctors are legally bound by an obligation to exercise the utmost care and caution. Doctors are held to an even higher standard due to the fact that they are medical experts who make life-or-death decisions. The duty of care is found in the laws and standards that govern specific kinds of treatments and procedures.

One of the most important elements that needs to be established in a negligence case is that the defendant was bound by a duty of care to the plaintiff. Then, it must be proven that the defendant did not fulfill that duty of care. This means that the doctor failed to meet the standard of care in this particular circumstance. The quality of care is usually determined by what a normal person would do under the same situation. For example an honest driver would not speed through a red light.

In a malpractice case experts are usually needed to testify about the standards of care and the way in which it was violated. They can also discuss the reason for the injury and what could have been done to prevent it from occurring.

Damages

In the United States, physicians are required to carry malpractice insurance in order to cover any loss that may result from medical negligence. To file a claim, the plaintiff must prove both financial losses (such medical expenses and lost wages) and noneconomic losses (such suffering and pain).

The amount of compensation you receive from a successful suit for malpractice is contingent upon how well your New York medical malpractice attorney will argue for your losses. Your attorney will be able to establish the medically necessary expenses through a review your medical records, the testimony of experts as well as the assistance of economic experts. Your medical malpractice attorney must prove your lost earnings by proving the number of days that you missed from work due your Medical Malpractice Law Firm conditions, and also the fact that these days were the result of the defendant's negligence.

Non-economic damages are more difficult to prove. You may require the assistance of a professional witness who can describe your mental, physical, and emotional pain as an direct result of defendant's negligence. Other types of non-economic losses include loss of consortium, which is an inability to maintain a loving and sexual relationship as you did with your spouse or your significant other. The attorney representing the defendant will challenge your non-economic damages through a process of depositions, interrogatories, and demands for documents and declarations under the oath.

Statute of Limitations

In New York, as with every state, there are definite time limitations - referred to as statutes of limitations within which a medical negligence lawsuit must be filed or otherwise it will be rejected by the courts. An experienced New York medical malpractice lawyer is familiar with these nuances and will ensure that your claim is filed prior to the deadlines established by law.

In most cases, a victim of medical malpractice must make a claim within two and a half years of the date when the negligence or act of a health care provider resulted in the death or injury. However, as with all laws there are a few exceptions to this rule. For instance in the event that the health care provider's error was part of an ongoing course of treatment, the 30-month mandatory "clock" will not begin until that course of treatment is complete or the patient becomes aware of the diagnosis.

In some instances, a patient may not recognize the problem until a long time after for instance the case where a foreign body is left in the body following surgery or treatment. In order to solve this issue, the majority of states have implemented the discovery rule. This allows injured victims in certain circumstances to extend their timeframes. Your lawyer is familiar with the laws of your state and will scrutinize your case's timeline carefully to avoid administrative errors that could cause delays to your claim.