Who is Responsible for Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional’s negligence causes injuries to a patient. In order to prove medical negligence and causation, your attorney will conduct a thorough investigation to gather evidence supporting a medical malpractice claim.  The following elements must be satisfied to prove medical malpractice occurred:

• A medical provider and patient relationship must have been established. This relationship is fairly simple to prove in most, but not all cases. In many cases, it is simply a matter of showing that the patient was under the doctor’s care or consulted with a doctor during a medical appointment.
• Negligence must be proved. Negligence exists when the medical professional breaches the medical standard of care. The standard of care is basically whether or not the medical professional exercised the care, skill, and competence that would be exercised by his or her medical professional peers.
• The plaintiff must prove that the negligence caused his or her injuries.
• Finally, the plaintiff must show that he or she has quantifiable injuries that can be compensated for economically.

Common malpractice cases include misdiagnosis, improper prescription, failure to review patient’s medical history, surgical errors including operating on the wrong body part or leaving a foreign object inside the plaintiff’s body, and failure to recognize symptoms. Anesthesia injuries and child birth injuries are among the most common malpractice injuries.