Common Causes of Malpractice Litigation

Malpractice litigation can be a difficult procedure. If an error is considered to be malpractice is dependent on the ability of the patient to establish four legal elements: a professional duty breach of this duty; injury due to the breach and quantifiable damages.

Plaintiffs must be able to prove the elements using evidence like expert testimony and depositions.

Incorrect diagnosis and failure to diagnose

Inability to recognize an injury or illness accurately can cause serious complications, or even death. Many medical malpractice cases involve incorrect diagnosis. To prove negligence, the patient or their lawyer must demonstrate that a competent doctor in similar circumstances and in the same specialty would not have misdiagnosed the problem.

Not every misdiagnosis is malpractice, however. Even highly trained and experienced doctors make mistakes, therefore the claim of malpractice must be backed by other elements like breach, proximate causality and actual injury. If a doctor fails to sterilize his equipment prior the time he administers anesthesia and the patient is infected due to this, the doctor could be liable.

In the majority of instances, lawsuits claiming that there was a mistake will be filed in the state trial court in which the malpractice was alleged to have occurred. However, federal courts might have jurisdiction in certain situations. A claim can be brought before a federal court under certain circumstances. For instance, it may involve the issue of the statute of limitations or when the parties are of different citizenships. Additionally, some cases are resolved through binding arbitration that is voluntary. This is a non-formal procedure that involves professional decision makers. It is designed to reduce expenses, speed up the legal proceedings, and eliminate the risks associated with generous juries. Arbitration is not always available in cases of misconduct.

Wrong Drug Dosage

Medication errors, often referred to as medication errors, are one of the leading causes of medical malpractice attorneys (Littleyaksa Yodev wrote in a blog post) suits. They can involve a physician writing a prescription incorrectly or administering the wrong dosage to a patient. These errors are usually preventable. According to the situation an individual pharmacy, hospital or other health care provider could be held accountable for injuries caused by a patient who received the wrong dose of a medication.

A doctor can prescribe the wrong drug because of a misdiagnosis. Or, simply making a mistake in the prescription. A health professional could also administer the incorrect dosage due to a failure in communication. For instance the nurse might take a doctor's prescription and read it incorrectly or a pharmacist might fail to fill the prescription. In other situations doctors may delay in administering the correct medication to the patient, which could result in their condition deteriorating.

A person seeking compensation must prove, in order to prevail on a malpractice claim that the medical professional violated their standard of practice and that their injuries were directly attributed to the negligence. This requires medical expert testimony. Additionally, a medical malpractice case must prove the extent of the victim's injuries and the damages they sustained because of the negligence. This includes the cost of treatment as well as any lost wages. The greater the loss of the claim, the greater the value of the claim.

Incorrect Procedure

It might seem absurd that medical professionals would carry out the wrong procedure on a patient, but this type of mishap occurs. A surgeon who commits the mistake could be held liable for negligence. Patients who are injured due to an error in surgery could be held liable for any errors that occured during the procedure.

A health care professional accused of malpractice must prove that the patient was injured because of an action or inability to perform the act. To establish this, the legal team of the patient must prove: (1) that the doctor had a responsibility to provide treatment or care to the patient; (2) that he breached that duty; (3) that a causal link exists between the breach and the injury and Malpractice Attorneys (4) the injuries result in damages that the legal system can address.

A breach of the duty of care is not relevant unless it causes injury which is why medical malpractice claims are usually made based on a law called "res ipsa loquitur." This law states that, in many instances certain injuries are so evident and obvious that they cannot be explained except by negligent acts.

Depending on the circumstances of the case, the plaintiff (the patient or their legally appointed representative) or their attorney may bring the case in federal or state court. Most malpractice cases are filed in state court. However, in certain situations the medical malpractice attorneys lawsuit can be filed in federal district court.

Wrong Surgery

A wrong-site procedure is a rare mistake, but it could be considered medical malpractice compensation if the procedure is performed on the wrong part of the body. This kind of error is usually due to miscommunication between members of a surgical team, or production pressure that leads to a surgeon being assigned multiple surgeries simultaneously. In these cases, the surgeon is not all-in on his liability for a wrong-site surgery since there is an underlying legal principle referred to as "res ipsa loquitur" which means that the outcome of the error speaks for itself and can be attributed to negligence.

If a patient is injured during surgery that is performed on the wrong site it is possible that he or she will require additional procedures to correct problems exacerbated due to the surgical error. This results in costly medical expenses for patients as well as their families. It is essential to keep these costs in mind when calculating the financial cost of medical malpractice lawsuits.

Most often surgeons are accountable for surgical errors. They are responsible to prepare the patient for the procedure, as well as checking the medical record and chart of the patient, communicating with the medical team, and ensuring that the incision was made in the proper location. However, in some cases an anesthesiologist or hospital may be held accountable. Medical malpractice lawsuits are typically filed in state court but may be transferred in certain circumstances to federal court.