Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys have a fiduciary responsibilities to their clients, and they must behave with skill, diligence and care. Attorneys make mistakes just like any other professional.

Not all mistakes made by an attorney are a result of malpractice. To prove legal malpractice, an victim must prove duty, breach, causation and damage. Let's take a look at each of these elements.

Duty

Medical professionals and doctors swear an oath to use their expertise and knowledge to treat patients, and not cause additional harm. Duty of care is the foundation for patients' right to compensation for injuries caused by medical negligence. Your attorney can assist you determine whether or not your doctor's actions violated the duty of care, and if these breaches caused injuries or illness to you.

To prove a duty to care, your lawyer has to show that a medical professional had an agreement with you, in which they were bound by a fiduciary duty to act with an acceptable level of skill and care. This can be proved by eyewitness testimony, doctor-patient records and expert testimony of doctors who have similar educational, experience and training.

Your lawyer must also show that the medical professional violated their duty of care by not submitting to the accepted standards of care in their field. This is often called negligence. Your attorney will evaluate the defendant's conduct with what a reasonable person would do in the same situation.

Your lawyer must also show that the breach of the defendant's duty directly contributed to your loss or injury. This is referred to as causation. Your attorney will rely on evidence such as your medical documents, witness statements, and expert testimony to prove that the defendant's failure to meet the standards of care in your case was a direct cause of your injury or loss.

Breach

A doctor has a duty to patients of care that conform to professional medical standards. If a doctor fails live up to those standards and fails to do so results in injury, then negligence and medical malpractice might occur. Expert testimony from medical professionals who possess similar qualifications, training, skills and experience can help determine the quality of care for a specific situation. Federal and state laws and institute policies also help determine what doctors should do for certain types of patients.

To win a malpractice lawyers claim, it must be proven that the doctor breached his or her duty of care and that the violation was a direct reason for an injury. This is referred to in legal terms as the causation element, and it is crucial to prove it. For example when a broken arm requires an x-ray, the doctor must properly place the arm and put it in a cast to ensure proper healing. If the doctor Malpractice Legal fails to perform this, and the patient suffers a permanent loss of usage of the arm, then malpractice may be at play.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims are based on evidence that the attorney's mistakes resulted in financial losses for the client. For example the lawyer does not file a lawsuit within the prescribed time of limitations, which results in the case being lost forever the party who suffered damages can bring legal malpractice actions.

It is important to understand that not all errors made by attorneys are considered to be malpractice. The mistakes that involve strategy and planning are not usually considered to be malpractice and lawyers have plenty of discretion to make judgment calls as long as they're reasonable.

The law also allows lawyers an enormous amount of discretion to not conduct discovery for a client, so long as the reason for the delay was not unreasonable or negligence. Legal malpractice legal can be caused through the failure to uncover important documents or information, such as medical reports or witness statements. Other instances of malpractice include the inability to add certain defendants or claims, like failing to include a survival count for a wrongful-death case, or the repeated failure to communicate with clients.

It is also important to note the necessity for the plaintiff to prove that if not the lawyer's negligence they would have won their case. The claim of the plaintiff for malpractice is deemed invalid in the event that it is not proved. This makes bringing legal malpractice claims difficult. It is important to employ an experienced attorney.

Damages

To prevail in a legal malpractice law suit, the plaintiff must prove actual 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 client and attorney. A plaintiff must also prove that a reasonable lawyer could have prevented the damage caused by the lawyer's negligence. This is known as proximate cause.

Malpractice can manifest in a number of different ways. The most frequent mistakes include: not meeting a deadline or statute of limitations; failing to perform an investigation into a conflict in cases; applying law incorrectly to a client's circumstances; and Malpractice Legal breaching the fiduciary duty (i.e. commingling trust account funds with an attorney's personal accounts), mishandling of the case, or not communicating with a client.

Medical malpractice lawsuit lawsuits typically involve claims for compensation damages. They are awarded to the victim in exchange for out-of-pocket expenses and losses, including hospital and medical bills, costs of equipment that aids in recovering, and lost wages. In addition, the victims can be able to claim non-economic damages such as pain and suffering as well as loss of enjoyment life, and emotional stress.

Legal malpractice cases usually include claims for compensatory and punitive damages. The former compensates the victim for losses caused by the negligence of the attorney while the latter is meant to deter future malpractice on the part of the defendant.