How to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in 2024
Med mal or medical malpractice lawsuit is a part of personal injury law where the doctor was negligent in their care, leading to injury or damage.
Like any other professionals, doctors must perform their duty with proper care, or else, the outcomes will ruin their patients’ lives. Consequently, the patients who were injured or died because of the doctor’s negligence can sue the doctor for medical malpractice and pay for the extra medical costs, damages, lost wages and more.
Legal Elements of Medical Malpractice
- There is a legal duty on the part of the doctor to provide proper care and treatment to patients.
- However, a breach of this duty can occur by a failure of the treating doctor to adhere to the standards of the profession.
- There is a contributory relationship between such breach of duty and injury to the patient.
- The existence of damages that flows from the injury such that the legal system can provide redress.
Basic Requirements to File your Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
To prove your medical malpractice case, you need to show all of these things:
A doctor-patient relationship existed
You have to show the patient-physician relationship with the doctor you want to sue. For example, you can’t sue a doctor you overheard giving guidance at a cocktail party.
The doctor was negligent
Just because you’re not satisfied with the treatment, it doesn’t mean that the doctor is liable for medical malpractice. Instead, the doctor needed to have been negligent in connection with the wrong treatment or diagnosis.
The injury led to specific damages
Even if it’s clear that your doctor performed below the expected standards, you can’t sue for malpractice if you don’t suffer any harm. Therefore, here are some examples of different types of harm patients can sue for:
- Mental anguish.
- Physical pain.
- Medical bills.
- Lost work and earning capacity.
Types of Medical Malpractice
A wide range of situations can lead to medical malpractice. Most of the Medical malpractice lawsuit claims fall into one of these categories:
Failure to diagnose
If the doctor failed to discover the patient’s illness or made a different diagnosis that increases the risk of various side effects, then you can file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Improper treatment
If your doctor selects the inappropriate treatment or administers the appropriate treatment incompetently, you can file a case against him or her. This improper treatment might lead to various life-threatening situations.
Failure to warn patients of dangerous risks
A doctor must warn patients regarding the known risks of a procedure or medication. This is known as the duty of informed consent. Furthermore, the doctor is liable for the lawsuit if the patient is directly injured by him or her.
Special Requirements in Med Mal Cases
- The cases must be brought soon after the injury, often between six months and two years.
- You have to submit your case to a malpractice review panel.
- You have to give the doctor notice of the malpractice claim before filing the case.
- You must have a skilled and qualified expert at the trial.
You need to make sure you contact an experienced attorney to file your medical malpractice lawsuit case. If you want a lawyer who cares about you and the outcome of your case, pick Ethen Ostroff. He and his connections ensure you get every dollar possible for what you went through.
