How do you prove medical malpractice?

When you undergo medical care or treatment, your healthcare professional has an obligation to provide appropriate care and services. While people generally trust that their doctor or other medical professional will alleviate any problems they might be having, often, those people end up in worse shape then when they came for help. In those cases, a medical malpractice attorney can be your best advocate.

You might have a medical malpractice case if a healthcare professional, hospital or other medical facility does not provide care in accordance with the accepted standards of the medical profession. Cases of medical malpractice can sometimes be difficult to prove, but often make headlines.

How Can Medical Malpractice Be Proven?

Medical malpractice cases are brought under a theory of negligence and require that an expert testify as to the standard of care that the medical professional should have been operating under.

In order to prove negligence, one must generally show:

  1. A duty. Medical professionals owe a duty to their patients. That duty varies depending on the professional. It is up to the plaintiff to prove what duty existed at the time.
  2. Breach of duty. Next, a plaintiff must be able to prove that the medical professional breached that duty.
  3. Finally, the plaintiff must show that the breach of duty led to the injury and damages suffered.

What Does Medical Malpractice Look Like?

Medical malpractice can arise in a wide variety of situations. For example, some medical malpractice cases can be born out of prescription errors, failures to monitor progress, improper treatment of an injury, or the mishandling of a mother and child during birth.

Some medical malpractice lawsuits are brought due to a lack of informed consent, where a medical provider allegedly did not inform patients about certain risks if a procedure. In such instances, even if a patient signed a document attesting to their consent to be treated, such consent was not informed.

Medical malpractice cases are complex and can take a long time to resolve. Having an experienced medical malpractice attorney on your side is imperative in winning your case. Rheingold, Giuffra, Ruffo & Plotkin LLP attorneys will fight for your rights and provide you with the best possible outcome based on your case. Contact us today for a free consultation or call (888) 260-0473.

About the Author
Of all the different areas in medical malpractice, it is podiatry malpractice that has had a particular interest to me. With 42 years practicing law and representing hundreds of victims of malpractice, I have created a law practice in which my clients are comfortable knowing that their case is being handled with my personal attention, in the most professional manner, and without unreasonable delays.