If you were injured due to negligent medical care, you might be entitled to hold the at-fault medical professional or health care entity liable for medical negligence.
However, specific factors must be present to hold these negligent parties liable for medical malpractice. If you want to know if they apply to your situation, it may be in your best interest to contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney to discuss your issue and determine if you have a valid claim that entitles you to compensation.
Your medical negligence lawyer will look for several elements when reviewing your claim, including:
An Established Doctor and Patient Relationship
The first thing you must prove to succeed in a medical malpractice claim is that there was an established doctor and patient relationship. In this relationship, a medical professional agrees to diagnose the individual’s condition or provide him or her medical treatment as a patient.
Once a valid doctor-patient relationship is formed, the health care professional legally owes the patient a duty of care. The medical provider or entity is obligated to provide competent treatment that follows the medical community’s specific standards.
A Breach of Duty
You must also demonstrate that the medical provider failed to uphold his or her duty of care — that’s something that is owed to you as part of fulfilling your doctor and patient relationship. You must be able to demonstrate that the health care professional providing your treatment did not deliver the same standard of care that another trained medical provider would have given you under similar conditions.
Common breach of duty examples include:
- Administering the wrong medication
- Prescribing an incorrect medication
- Prescribing medicines at the wrong dosage
- Misdiagnosing a patient’s condition
- Failing to diagnose a patient’s condition
- Committing surgical errors, including operating on the wrong part of the body, performing the wrong surgery, and leaving a surgical instrument or medical tool inside the patient during surgery
To prove a breach of duty exists in a medical malpractice claim, expert medical witnesses often provide testimony detailing how a competent and similarly skilled medical professional would have acted under the same circumstances.
Proven Causation
For a medical malpractice claim to be successful, causation must be proven. This means the medical provider’s actions, or inaction, must be a result of your injury, your condition becoming worse, or you suffered additional harm. You must show that your injury or worsened condition resulted from the negligent care you received and was not caused by pre-existing conditions or outside issues.
Damages Suffered
The final thing you must prove is that you suffered harm, injury, or damage resulting from the negligent treatment you received from your medical provider.
Contact Qualified Legal Help
If you have suffered harm or injury due to the negligence of a medical professional, you may be entitled to monetary compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. A medical malpractice attorney can review your case and inform you of your legal options. To learn more about bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit, contact a medical malpractice lawyer to schedule a no-obligation consultation.
