How to File a Medical Malpractice Case

Medical malpractice attorneys cases can be complex. Fortunately, an experienced lawyer can assist you in understanding your legal rights and navigate the complicated procedure.

To file a malpractice claim you must prove that your physician or other healthcare professional violated their duty of care towards you. The breach could have resulted in an adverse legal result for you, such as an unfavorable outcome for your medical treatment or financial loss.

Birth defects

A parent’s excitement at the birth of their child is unmatched. Unfortunately, it’s also a time when medical concerns can arise. These could be related to birth defects, including lips that are cleft and missing limbs or congenital heart disease and muscular dystrophy. If negligence of a doctor during pregnancy or delivery resulted in these conditions, you may have a valid malpractice settlement claim.

Birth defects can be caused by many reasons, including exposure to prescription medications or environmental factors, toxic chemicals and prenatal issues. A doctor’s duty to ensure the health of a mother and fetus includes conducting proper screening tests and detecting and treating any abnormalities during pregnancy.

Medical experts must determine if the negligence of a doctor caused serious injury or death due to failing to diagnose or treat the condition. To prove negligence, an expert must review the standards of care that a doctor would have followed in the same circumstances and show that the doctor was not following the standard and caused the injury or death.

In addition to retaining experts, it is essential to collect evidence at the scene of the accident. Also, speak with any eyewitnesses. This could include witnesses at the hospital and other patients, their families, nurses, and more. You should also take pictures of the injuries your child sustained to show how severe they are.

Maternal deaths

Every year approximately 700-900 women die as a result of complications during pregnancy or childbirth. This is an alarming number especially for a first-world country like the United States. USA Today recently reported that many of these deaths could have been prevented with better hospital care.

The causes of maternal death include obstetric emergencies, such as severe bleeding during birth or a hemorrhage afterwards and pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes and obesity that affect the birth of a child and pregnancy. However, doctors also have a duty to detect and treat warning signs, such as high blood pressure, which can lead to the dangerous condition known as preeclampsia. Preeclampsia could cause a premature separation from the placenta and seizures. It may also lead to the life-threatening condition known as HELLP Syndrome.

Medical malpractice settlement lawsuits that involve gynecology and obstetrics are among the most common kinds of lawsuits filed in the United States. In a malpractice claim, a claimant must prove that the healthcare provider or doctor violated the accepted standards of care and that that violation led to the plaintiff’s injury or death. The standards of care are defined by the legal community and differs from state to state. Despite the large number of malpractice legal claims, most settlements are not subject to trial. Settlements are typically reached through direct negotiation between the parties, and occasionally with the help of a neutral mediator (often a retired judge or attorney). Medical malpractice lawsuits are not the only way to disqualify a doctor from practicing quickly.

Injuries as a result of surgery

Although medical advances have drastically reduced the likelihood of adverse outcomes, they do occur. When they occur they can result in serious injuries. In addition to being uncomfortable and inconvenient these injuries could result in costly corrective surgeries, excessive medical expenses as well as a prolonged recovery period or even death.

There are many surgical mistakes that are negligence. To prove a case, it must be demonstrated that a healthcare professional did not follow the standards of care during an operation and this failure caused injury. The types of injuries that could be considered medical malpractice are:

Wrong-site surgeries, where the surgeon performs surgery on a body part other than the one intended, leaving a sponge, scalpel or other object inside a patient, puncturing or cutting a nerve organ, causing infections because of improperly cleaned and sanitized tools and equipment, etc.

A lawsuit for surgical errors is a complex matter therefore, you must seek out the assistance from an experienced attorney who is knowledgeable about medical malpractice law. It is also essential to record any injuries that you suffer including photographs, and make notes of any information you believe could be relevant to your claim. A lawsuit based on a surgical error could take years to resolve, however it’s worth the effort if your doctor committed an avoidable mistake that left you injured. This is particularly true if you sustained serious injuries that seriously hinder your quality of life.

Wrongful death

It can be a traumatic experience to lose a loved one, especially when the death was caused by someone else’s negligence. As per state law you could be able file a lawsuit against the other party to collect damages.

A wrongful death is different from a medical malpractice claim because it is a matter of the life of an individual rather than their health. For this reason, the requirements for proof are higher – it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that your loved person’s death was caused by an individual’s negligence.

For instance, her husband died from lung cancer that was not found on an x-ray. The doctor who did not follow up on his patient’s symptoms or run an MRI after the patient complained of breathing issues was the cause of his death. The delay in treatment caused the tumor malpractice legal to expand irreparably.

In this scenario the family members of the patient could bring a lawsuit for an unjustified death against the doctor and hospital. The type of damages you can claim will depend on the laws in your state, similar to a medical negligence case. They can cover both economic and non-economic losses like funeral costs or loss of consortium as well as the pain and suffering that occurred prior to the death of the victim. These claims can also be used to cover punitive damages. This amount isn’t covered in all circumstances, but it is available if the victim’s death was due to multiple errors or suffered a particularly severe death.