Medical Malpractice Law
| Medical malpractice is a category of personal injury law. A personal injury occurs when the actions or negligence of another causes injury to you. |
|
The defendant has to prove that the injury would not have occurred if it hadn’t been for the action or negligence of the other person. In medical malpractice, the offending party is obviously your doctor.
In order for a medical malpractice suit to be proven, the claimant must establish the following:
- Duty was owed: A legal duty is established whenever a health care provider undertakes care or treatment of a patient. The presence of a valid physician-patient relationship has to be proved before a claimant can even make a malpractice claim.
- Breach of Duty: It has to be proved the healthcare provider was unable to provide an acceptable standard of treatment, or caused inadvertent delay in treatment. Testimony of expert witnesses is needed to prove this.
- Breach caused an injury: The claimant has to prove that the physician’s negligence led to injury, and had the physician acted differently, the injury could have been avoided. It doesn’t matter if the act that caused the injury is malicious or accidental. The action happened and the patient sustained injury as a result of the action.
Damages occurred: Unless damages of some sort are sustained by the patient, there is no basis for a claim. The amount of damages should be quantifiable. The amount of compensation awarded is generally related to the amount (or severity) of injury.
More Article :
Damages Assessment
|
