15 Terms Everyone Involved In Malpractice Attorney Industry Should Know

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Attorneys are bound by a fiduciary obligation to their clients, and they must act with skill, diligence and care. But, as with all professionals attorneys make mistakes.

Not all mistakes made by lawyers are considered to be malpractice. To prove negligence in a legal sense the person who was hurt must prove duty, breach of duty, causation and damages. Let's take a look at each one of these aspects.

Duty-Free

Medical professionals and doctors swear to use their education and skills to cure patients and not to cause further harm. Duty of care is the basis for the right of patients to receive compensation when they suffer injuries due to medical negligence. Your attorney will determine if your doctor's actions violated the duty of care and whether these violations caused you injury or illness.

To establish a duty of care, your lawyer has to demonstrate that a medical professional had an legal relationship with you that have a fiduciary obligation to perform their duties with a reasonable level of expertise and care. This relationship may be proven by eyewitness testimony, physician-patient reports and expert testimony from doctors with similar educational, experience and training.

Your lawyer must also prove that the medical professional violated their duty of care by not adhering to the accepted standards of practice in their field. This is often called negligence, and your attorney will compare the defendant's behavior to what a reasonable individual would do in the same circumstance.

Then, your lawyer has to demonstrate that the defendant's breach of duty directly resulted in the loss or injury you suffered. This is called causation. Your lawyer will use evidence including your doctor's or patient documents, witness testimony and expert testimony, to demonstrate that the defendant’s failure to meet the standards of care was the sole cause of the injury or loss to you.

Breach

A doctor has a duty of care to his patients which corresponds to professional medical standards. If a doctor fails meet these standards and that failure results in injury, then medical malpractice and negligence may occur. Expert testimony from medical professionals who have the same training, certifications as well as experience and qualifications can help determine the appropriate level of care for a specific situation. Federal and state laws and institute policies also help determine what doctors should perform for specific types of patients.

To prevail in a malpractice lawsuit the case must be proved that the doctor violated his or his duty of care and that the breach was the direct cause of an injury. This is known in legal terms as the causation factor and it is imperative that it be established. For example, if a broken arm requires an xray, the doctor must properly fix the arm and place it in a cast to ensure proper healing. If the doctor is unable to complete this task and the patient is left with a permanent loss of usage of the arm, malpractice could have occurred.

Causation

Attorney malpractice claims are based on the evidence that proves that the lawyer's errors caused financial losses to the client. For instance the lawyer fails to file a lawsuit within the prescribed time of limitations, leading to the case being lost for ever the party who suffered damages could bring legal malpractice lawsuits.

However, it's crucial to be aware that not all mistakes made by lawyers constitute illegal. Planning and strategy errors aren't usually considered to be a sign of the definition of malpractice. Attorneys have a broad range of discretion to make decisions, as long as they're in the right place.

The law also gives attorneys considerable leeway to fail to conduct discovery on a client's behalf, as long as the action was not unreasonable or negligent. Legal malpractice is committed by not obtaining crucial documents or facts, like medical reports or witness statements. Other instances of malpractice include inability to include certain defendants or claims, such as forgetting to submit a survival count in a case of wrongful death or the consistent and malpractice lawsuit persistent inability to communicate with a client.

It's also important that it has to be proven that, if not the lawyer's negligence, the plaintiff would have won the case. Otherwise, the plaintiff's claim for malpractice attorneys will be rejected. This requirement makes the process of bringing legal malpractice lawsuits difficult. This is why it's crucial to hire an experienced attorney to represent you.

Damages

To win a legal malpractice lawsuit a plaintiff must demonstrate actual financial losses caused by the actions of an attorney. This has to be demonstrated in a lawsuit with evidence such as expert testimony, correspondence between the client and attorney or billing records, and other documents. A plaintiff must also demonstrate that a reasonable attorney could have prevented the harm caused by the lawyer's negligence. This is known as the proximate cause.

The definition of malpractice can be found in a variety of ways. The most frequent mistakes are: failing to meet a deadline or statute of limitations; not performing an investigation into a conflict in a case; applying the law incorrectly to a client's circumstances; and breaching the fiduciary obligation (i.e. the commingling of trust account funds with personal attorney accounts) or a mishandling of the case, and failing to communicate with clients.

Medical malpractice lawsuits typically include claims for compensatory damages. These damages compensate the victim for the cost of out-of-pocket expenses and expenses like hospital and medical bills, equipment costs to aid in recovery, and lost wages. Victims can also seek non-economic damages, such as pain and discomfort and loss of enjoyment their lives, as well as emotional distress.

Legal malpractice cases often involve claims for compensatory or punitive damages. The first is meant to compensate the victim for the losses caused by negligence on the part of the attorney while the latter is intended to discourage any future malpractice on the defendant's part.