The Law and Medical Negligence

Medical negligence occurs when a patient suffers injury or harm as a result of a doctor’s mistreatment. Whether it was a missed or wrong diagnosis, improper treatment, or failure to treat in general, there are medical negligence laws in effect to protect the patient and provide them with the recourse of prosecuting the offending party.

Although every state has them in place, medical negligence laws vary among them. There are, however, certain things that are universal, regardless of which state the incident occurred within.

Generally, medical negligence law holds that in order to be successful, a patient must prove four things in their case. These four things are as follows:

• Duty of care. It must be proven that the defendant did, in fact, have a responsibility to provide care for the plaintiff. This is usually relatively simple to prove in cases where it is documented with medical records that the plaintiff was a current patient, under the care of the offending physician at the time of the incident.

• Failure of said duty of care. The plaintiff has the burden of proving that the defendant did not act with the proper care in their diagnosis or treatment. Whether it was deliberate or accidental, there must be sufficient evidence to support this claim in order for the plaintiff to be successful.

• Resulting injury or harm. It’s not enough to just show proof that a doctor has failed in their duty of care. Medical negligence law requires that the plaintiff must then be able to prove that they suffered injury or harm as a direct result of the doctor’s negligence. Medical records documenting follow up treatments, and expert witnesses and reports can all be used to support this part of a claim

• Proof of damages. This is perhaps the heart of a malpractice claim, because if there are no damages, or none that can be proven, there is essentially no case. The plaintiff must provide sufficient evidence that they have suffered damages, either financial or emotional, in order to win their claim.

It’s safe to say that these four things must be present in order to move forward with a medical negligence lawsuit, regardless of what state the incident occurred. If any one of them is not present, the law will not support the claim and it will most likely never make it to litigation.

Medical negligence laws are in place to protect patients from the improper treatment by a doctor or medical professional. They vary from state to state, and are complex and confusing. If you feel that you have been a victim of malpractice, speak to an attorney who is experienced medical negligence law right away.