Personal Injury Case Study: Your Complete Guide to Medical Malpractice Suits

Between formal education, residency programs, and specialty fellowships, becoming a medical professional in the US can take anywhere from 11 to 19 years.

Even with all that training, doctors can still make costly and damaging mistakes. In fact, medical errors claim more than 250,000 lives every year.

But when you've been injured or your condition made worse by a medical professional, there is recourse. A medical malpractice lawsuit can help you seek the compensation you deserve.

Keep reading to learn more about what's involved in suing a doctor for malpractice.

Medical malpractice is a legal claim against a medical professional. This claim can be brought against a doctor who was negligent in providing a reasonable standard of care. However, that negligence has to have led to some degree of harm or injury.

There are a number of situation that can lead to you suing a doctor. For a medical malpractice lawsuit, these typically fall under 3 categories. We'll discuss each in more detail below.

Improper Treatment

One of the more common forms of malpractice is improper treatment, which can refer to two things.

First, it refers to a doctor choosing and administering a treatment that other competent doctors with similar training and under similar circumstances would not. Second, this type of malpractice refers to when a doctor uses the correct treatment but administers it incorrectly and causes harm.

Failure to Diagnose

Another type of malpractice is when a doctor misdiagnoses a patient and that leads to harm or worsening of the condition. Part of this type of medical malpractice is showing that another doctor with similar training and under similar circumstances would have made a different diagnosis. If that other diagnosis would have led to a better outcome for the patient, then that is malpractice.

Informing the Patient of Risks

Failing to warn a patient of the known risks is another common type of malpractice. The duty of informed consent means that your doctor has to warn you of the risks of any kind of treatment. If they don't properly inform you and you're injured by a treatment that you would have otherwise opted out of, this is considered malpractice.

Proving malpractice and successfully suing a doctor is not an easy task. While the rules and special requirements vary from state to state, there are typically four items you need to prove in order to prove medical practice.

Doctor-Patient Relationship

This is typically the easiest part of a medical malpractice suit. It means you must show that there was a physician-patient relationship with the doctor you're bringing the lawsuit against.

You must show that you hired the doctor and the doctor agreed to be hired. All that means is that a doctor saw you and treated you. There doesn't need to be any kind of formal agreement.

Negligence

This is also known as the medical standard of care. Many malpractice lawsuits hinge on this aspect of proof.

To prove the doctor was negligent, you have to show that another competent doctor with the same training and under similar circumstances would not have treated you in the same way that led to your injury. You'll have to prove that your doctor, in comparison to another doctor, did not provide reasonably skillful and careful treatment.

In many states, proving reasonable and skillful care involves bringing in an expert witness. This witness will explain what reasonably skillful and careful would generally mean in the same situation. They'll also have to explain how your doctor didn't act in that way.

Negligence Caused the Injury

Another important aspect of proof is showing that the doctor's negligence led to your injury. This is another difficult thing to prove when you're suing a doctor.

Considering most plaintiffs in a medical malpractice suit were injured or in ill-health prior to the treatment, it's hard to show that the harm you've suffered is the result of treatment and not the natural progression of your condition. For this aspect of proof, an expert witness is usually required.

Injury Led to Damages

Finally, you'll have to connect your injuries to specific damages when suing for malpractice. Some of the more common types of damages that patients sue for are mental anguish, lost wages, physical pain, and additional medical bills.

A malpractice lawsuit has some special requirement that you should be aware of. Read more about each of these below.

Expert Testimony

Expert witnesses are usually doctors and other medical professionals. As mentioned above, most states require expert testimony to prove negligence and to prove that negligence caused your injury. There are very few cases that don't require expert witnesses.

Review Boards

In many states, you'll be required to submit your claim to a review board before going to court. The review board will look into the arguments, evidence, and expert testimony. Before even stepping foot into the court, this board determines if you have a genuine malpractice case.

Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations is the amount of time you have to file your personal injury claim. On a medical malpractice suit, that time limit is relatively short. Meaning you should talk to a lawyer immediately, otherwise, the court can dismiss your case regardless of how strong it may be.

Depending on the state in which you live, you usually have between six months and two years.

Special Notice

Also depending on the state in which you live, you might be required to give notice to the doctor you're suing. This written description of your claim must be provided to the doctor before filing a claim.

If you've been injured or your condition worsened as a result of a doctor's treatment, you might have a malpractice lawsuit. But suing a doctor for malpractice is not as straightforward as other personal injury claims. Not only does it have it's own special requirements, proving the malpractice takes professional know-how.

Contact us for a free consultation. We can help you determine whether or not you have a legitimate case worth pursuing.