Medical malpractice happens when a medical practitioner fails to perform his duty resulting in harm, damage, or injury to the patient. Medical malpractice is often used interchangeably with medical negligence, but in reality, both are different terms. Medical negligence falls under the purview of medical malpractice. The former is defined as an omission act by a medical professional deviating from the accepted medical care standards. In layman’s terms, to file a suit in court, proving only negligence is not enough. There is a minimum of four key elements required in a case to be accepted in court. It is best to hire a Miami medical negligence attorney who can go through the case and see if the case has merit. If the case has these four elements, it has chances to fly in the court.
Four Elements
Here, we introduce four elements of medical negligence on which a legal professional relies upon before building a case.
1. Duty-
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It is the first element of medical negligence. The duty element comes into the picture as soon as the relationship between a doctor and a patient is proved. The expectation from the doctor is to take the right approach to provide the best medical services to the patient. Often, doctors are careless or reckless and neglect to diagnose the problem correctly or provide wrong treatment.
2. Breach-
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Every doctor takes a Hippocratic oath upon completing studies in medical school. As per this oath, the doctor promises to fulfill the duties given to him. Failing to do so results in a contract breach. If the breach of contract is proved, another element of negligence is in evidence.
3. Injury-
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Injury is the third element of medical negligence. The presence of this element in the case makes it admissible in court. It is also referred to as causation in legal jargon. The injury occurs when a patient suffers from actual harm due to the negligence of a medical practitioner. To file the case, the victim and his attorney need to prove that the injury to the patient occurred due to gross negligence on the part of the medical professional. This injury can be of two types-actual cause and proximate cause. It is recommended to seek the guidance of Boyers Law, a seasoned Miami based medical practice attorney to help to prove this element of the case in court.
4. Damages-
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The last and the most important element of medical negligence is damages, which is the financial or monetary aspect of the case. The victim files a compensation claim in court for the damage and harm caused due to the doctor’s or any other medical staff’s negligence. Before the case is filed, the attorney gathers pertinent information and evidence to prove the medical negligence in court. He demands monetary compensation for the work time and opportunities missed due to the injury.
If all these four elements are present in the case, winning it in the court is high. Hire an experienced lawyer to help the case gets the best outcome from the hollows of law.
When planning to file a medical malpractice case in court, it is important to hire a seasoned attorney who has immense experience handling similar cases. Your internet search will give you many results, but not all attorneys may meet your expectations or can do justice to your case. Thus, be a little patient and talk to the attorneys showing in your search results. Talking to them on a one-to-one basis will give you some idea about their experience and expertise. Ask them about their success rate when handling such cases. After a detailed conversation with a few of them, you will make a suitable choice. You can also check reviews and recommendations of such lawyers and see what other clients have to say about them. If they enjoy glowing and very positive reviews, he is the right man to handle your case.
Once an attorney is selected, the next task is to discuss and analyze your case in-depth. Your attorney may have a lot of questions for you. Answer them as truthfully and completely as possible. It will help the attorney to gauge the merit of your case. Many times, patients are mistaken about their medical healthcare providers failing in their duty of care. Not all cases are eligible to be filed as medical malpractice or negligence cases. Thus, a thorough discussion with your attorney will help you understand if there are chances of your case being admitted in court.
Once the attorney finds merit in the case, the next task is to start collecting and gathering relevant information. This information is available in medical records, prescriptions, documents, diagnostic tests, and more. This information and data inherent in it are checked, analyzed, and collated with the report. The plaintiff can also share other relevant information like employment records to show the loss of a job or missing several hours of work due to injury sustained by the doctor’s negligence.
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Once the information is in sync with the complaint, it is filed in court. The plaintiff’s lawyer may also call upon witnesses to corroborate the facts of the case. The lawyer of the defendant may cross-examine the witness to find out the truth of the evidence. In such a way, the court proceedings continue until all evidence and pertinent facts are presented in court.
The lawyer’s skill and expertise will play a vital role when presenting the facts and turning them around so that the case gets a fair and just hearing. If the evidence and information are solid and irrefutable, the chances of winning the case and claiming high compensation are increased. Discuss the fee charged by your lawyer in advance so that there are no chances of miscommunication. Most lawyers seek a percentage of compensation once it is awarded to the plaintiff. Some lawyers may demand a fixed fee in advance. Discuss all these details in advance and file the case in court to win a case of medical malpractice against the medical service provider.
