Medical Malpractice Claim Requirements

by Kristen White Blogger Medical malpractice is when a patient is harmed or injured by a doctor or other medical professional who fails to proficiently and adeptly perform their medical duties. Unlike those looking for injury car accident lawyers where fault might be shared by both drivers, medical malpractice focuses on negligence by doctors with no fault from the patient. The rules of medical malpractice vary from state to state but there are general basic rules that are applicable in most medical malpractice cases.

Claim requirements
There are four basic requirements for a medical malpractice claim. These are:

• Existence of a doctor and patient relationship – in order to have a valid claim there must have been a doctor and patient relationship. This basically means you must have hired the doctor and he or she agreed to be hired by you. If the doctor had already begun seeing you and treating you, then the relationship is easy to prove. However, it is hard to prove the existence of a relationship if the doctor you are suing was a consulting physician and did not treat you directly.


• Doctor negligence – malpractice is not decided or determined by the patient being unhappy with the treatment or results of being treated but they are determined by the doctor having been negligent in relation to the patient’s diagnosis or treatment. When one sues for malpractice they must show that the doctor caused harm to them in a way that a competent doctor would not have done under similar circumstances. The doctor’s care is not required to be world class but the doctor must simply be reasonably skillful and careful.
  
  
  • The question of the doctor being reasonably skillful and careful is at the heart of the medical malpractice claim. The patient will most likely be expected to present a medical expert to discuss the appropriate medical standard of care and show that the doctor deviated from the standard.


• The doctor’s negligence caused the harm/injury – many malpractice cases involve patients who were already sick or injured, therefore, the question that is commonly asked is ‘did the doctor’s actions, negligent or not, actually cause the harm to the patient’. The onus is on the patient to show that it is more likely than not that the incompetence of the doctor directly caused the injury or harm. This requires a medical expert to testify that the doctor’s negligence caused the injury


• The injury led to specific damage – even though the doctor performed below standards in his or her field and such is clear; the patient cannot sue for malpractice if they did not suffer harm or injury. Some examples of types of harm are:
  
  
  • Physical pain
  
  
  • Mental anguish
  
  
  • Additional medical bills
  
  
  • Loss of work and/or loss of earning capacity

Medical malpractice law has a complex set of rules which are highly regulated, therefore it is highly advisable that someone who wants to sue for malpractice gets legal advice and representation from a law firm of professionals with experience and expertise in medical malpractice laws.

If you are looking for personal injury lawyer in Anchorage Alaska, the author recommends Crowson Law Group.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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