Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Common Characteristics of Medical Malpractice Cases
Certain general principals and types of regulations apply to most medical malpractice lawsuits regardless of state. The harm, which may result from oversight, from mistakes made during the diagnosis, from faulty treatment or aftercare, or from the process of health care management, must have the following features to qualify for a medical malpractice claim:
- The accepted standard of care was breached: Certain standards have been established by the health care profession as representing acceptable treatment and behavior by competent professionals under identical or similar conditions. Patients have the right to expect health professionals to provide care that adheres to these standards. If it is commonly agreed that the standard of care was not met, a case for negligence may be brought.
- The negligence resulted in injury: In order for a medical malpractice claim to be legitimate, patients must also show that they suffered injuries that would not have been sustained without the presence of negligence. An adverse medical outcome does not in itself represent a case of malpractice. Patients need to demonstrate that a medical professional’s negligent actions produced the injury. Thus, if an injury occurs with no apparent negligence, grounds for a lawsuit cannot be established.
- The injury resulted in identifiable damages: It is extremely costly to try medical malpractice lawsuits in court as they often require extensive testimony from medical experts as well as hours of sworn, out-of-court testimony from numerous witnesses.
In addition, as mentioned above, for a malpractice case to be deemed feasible patients have to show that significant and specific damages resulted from the negligence, such as the following:
- physical or mental disability
- time lost from work and decreased earning capacity
- intense physical pain
- mental anguish
- undue suffering due to hardship
- major medical bills incurred in the present or past
Even if it is obvious that the actions of medical professionals failed to meet the accepted standards of their field, patients cannot sue for malpractice if none of the above types of harm was experienced.
