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Common Causes of Malpractice Litigation

Malpractice litigation is a complicated procedure. The degree to which an error constitutes malpractice depends on whether the patient is able to establish four legal elements such as a professional duty; breach of this duty; harm caused by the breach and damages that can be quantifiable.

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

Misdiagnosis or Failure to Diagnose

Failure to identify an injury or illness in a timely manner could lead to serious complications, or even death. A lot of medical malpractice cases involve misdiagnosis. To show negligence, the patient or their lawyer must prove that an experienced doctor in similar circumstances would not have misdiagnosed an illness.

It is not always a case of malpractice, however. Even the most skilled and trained doctors make mistakes, therefore any claim of malpractice has to be backed by other elements such as breach, proximate causation, and actual injury. For instance when a doctor does not properly sterilize their equipment before administering anesthesia and the patient suffers an infection because of it, the doctor could be found to be negligent.

The majority of lawsuits involving malpractice are filed in state trial courts where the alleged malpractice took place. Federal courts could however have jurisdiction in certain instances. A claim can be brought before a federal court under certain circumstances. For instance it could be the issue of a statute of limitation or when the parties are of different citizenships. Some claims can be settled through voluntary binding arbitration. This is a non-formal procedure that is governed by professional decision makers. It is designed to lower costs, expedite the legal process, and remove the risk that comes with large juries. However, arbitration isn't accessible for all malpractice claims.

The wrong dosage of medication

Medication mistakes, also referred to as medication errors, are among the most common causes of medical malpractice lawsuits. These errors can be caused by a physician who writes a prescription in the wrong format, or giving the patient the wrong dosage. These errors are generally preventable. According to the circumstances the hospital staff member, a pharmacist or other health professionals may be held liable for the harms suffered by patients who were given the wrong dose of medication.

A doctor might prescribe the wrong medication to a patient because of an inaccurate diagnosis or simply by misreading the prescription. A health professional could also administer the incorrect dosage because of a glitch in communication. For example nurses may take a doctor's prescription and read it incorrectly or a pharmacist may fail to fill the prescription. In other instances the doctor may delay administering the correct medication to the patient, resulting in their condition becoming worse.

A person who suffers from a medical malpractice claim must prove, to be successful in a malpractice attorney lawsuit, that the medical professional breached their standard of practice and that their injuries were directly attributed to the negligence. This requires medical experts to provide evidence. Additionally, a medical malpractice claim must establish the extent of a victim's injuries and the damages they sustained because of the negligence. This includes the costs of treatment for the victim as well as any wages lost. Generally, the greater a loss is then, the more valuable the claim will be.

Unskillful Procedure

It might seem absurd for medical professionals to perform the wrong procedure on a patient, however, this type of event is quite common. A surgeon who makes this mistake could be held accountable for negligence. A patient who is injured because of an error during surgery may be held liable for any errors that occured during the procedure.

A health professional accused of negligence must prove that a patient was injured by an action or failure to act. To establish this the legal team of the patient must prove that: (1) the doctor was in a duty to provide care or treatment; (2) that the doctor did not fulfill this duty; (3) that there is a direct causal connection between the breach and the injury; and malpractice lawyers (4) that the injury results in damages which the legal system has the power to deal with.

A breach of the duty of care has no significance unless it causes injury which is the reason medical malpractice claims are typically founded on a legal principle called "res ipsa loquitur." This law states that, in many instances certain injuries are obvious and evident that they can only be explained through negligent acts.

Based on the circumstances depending on the facts, the plaintiff (the person who filed the claim or their legal representative) or their lawyer could decide to file the claim in federal or state court. The majority of malpractice cases are filed with state courts, but in certain circumstances a medical negligence case could be filed with a federal district court.

Wrong Surgery

Wrong-site surgery is a rare error, but it can be considered medical malpractice Lawyers when the procedure is performed on the wrong part of the body. This kind of error is usually caused by a lack of communication between the surgical team, malpractice lawyers or due to pressures on production that result in the surgeon performing multiple surgeries at once. In these cases, a surgeon is not solely responsible for a wrong-site procedure due to the legal principle of "res ipsa locquitur" which says that the result speaks for itself and cannot be attributed to negligence.

If someone is injured during an operation that was performed on the wrong site it is possible that the patient will need additional procedures to correct problems that were made worse by the error. Patients and their families are left with expensive medical bills. These costs should be taken into consideration when calculating the financial consequences of medical malpractice lawsuits.

Most often surgeons are liable for surgical mistakes. They are responsible in preparing the patient for surgery, reviewing the medical record and chart of the patient, communicating with the rest of the medical personnel, and ensuring that the incision was made in the correct place. In some instances the hospital or anesthesiologist may also be held responsible. Medical malpractice claims are generally filed in state court, but they may be transferred under certain circumstances to federal court.