Elements of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is often defined as professional negligence by a doctor, surgeon, nurse or another healthcare worker who has caused physical or emotional harm to a patient under their care. Med Mal accidents in Athens, GA can occur in the form of an act or the omission of an act of necessary care.
Four key elements of Med Mal accidents
- Duty
As soon as a doctor and the patient establish a confidential relationship, it is the doctor’s responsibility to provide the most logical and practical treatment plan possible, which is an element of duty. With regard to Med Mal accidents in Athens GA, doctors often overlook more effective approaches to healing or reject newer methods of treatments. A healthcare practitioner has a serious duty toward his or her patient.
- Breach
When a doctor graduates from medical school, they promise to practice under the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath states that doctors are required to fulfill their duty to provide the best treatment possible to their patients. When a doctor fails to perform their duty, they breach their contract. This is the medical negligence element of the breach. If a doctor fails to perform their duty, a doctor to offenses their contract. The healthcare practitioner who had the duty to care for a particular patient must have failed in his/her duty by not practicing and performing to the degree of care or medical skill that another healthcare professional in the same specialty would have used in an equal situation.
- Injury
The injury is the third element required in a Med Mal accidents case in Athens, GA to make it viable in court. It is often called “causation” in the legal world. Injury, or causation, is often referred to as the actual harm caused to a patient by a doctor. For an injury to occur in the realm of medical malpractice, it must fall under two components, which are an exact cause and proximate cause. The harm done to the patient must be a direct result of a doctor who has failed to perform his/her duty to aide with medical care and therefore breached their contract, and the damage or injury must be a result of that failure to perform and provide. The patient must have endured emotional or physical injury while in the care of the healthcare practitioner. The damage can be a new one or an aggravation of an existing injury.
- Damages
The fourth element of medical negligence includes damages. They are monetary compensation for the harm caused by a doctor’s negligence. If you want a medical malpractice case to stand up in court, the injury or damage caused must be able to be fixed with money. For example, if a person has missed work he/she can be monetarily compensated in court for that time lost due to the injury. There must be solid evidence that the breach of duty by the healthcare practitioner caused the patient’s injury.
For a malpractice case to have a chance at standing in court, it needs all four elements of medical negligence to be considered. Learning the four aspects of oversight concerning the medical field is an excellent way to begin. However, if you want to open a medical malpractice case against a doctor or hospital, you need to seek legal guidance and assistance. Medical malpractice is a very tricky section of the law. You’re more likely to win your case with the help of a studied law firm like ours. A successful medical malpractice suit has to prove that all four of these elements exist.
Medical Malpractice Athens GA
Medical Malpractice refers to an act where the medical or healthcare professional has failed to provide medical care of a reasonable standard which in turn has resulted in harm or injury to the patient.
Eye-Popping Statistics
Various studies and reports on deaths due to medical negligence in the US reveal some eye-popping statistics. Not too long ago, a John Hopkins Study put the death figure due to medical errors at 250000 per year. Some other studies claim that as many as 440000 people die every year due to medical errors. It is the third leading cause of deaths in the US after heart disease and cancer and accounts for close to 10% of all deaths.
Generally, the following are usually considered as medical errors:
- The medical professional failed to diagnose the condition and so didn’t administer any treatment
- Misdiagnosis or wrong interpretation of the reports leading to the improper treatment being administered to the patient
- Correct diagnosis but an improper course of treatment is followed
- The patient is not informed of the risks or side effects of undergoing the treatment
Medical Malpractice Cases
While the rising occurrences of medical errors have seen an increase in the number of medical practices cases filed in courts, it should also be remembered that these cases are bound by the statute of limitations. It means that the plaintiff should file the medical malpractice case within a specified period from the date of occurrence of the medical error, otherwise the court will not accept the claim regardless of the facts.
As is the situation most often, before the case is actually filed in the court, it has to be submitted to an expert review panel which hears all the arguments, examines the testimonies and evidence and then presents its findings. The courts rely on these findings to establish whether the plaintiff has a legitimate claim.
To prove the occurrence of negligence, the following conditions need to be met:
- A Doctor-Patient relationship existed between the parties involved in the case
- The doctor or the healthcare professional didn’t provide standard medical care leading to negligence
- The medical professional’s negligence turned out to be the cause of harm or injury to the patient
- The patient indeed suffered harm or injury owing to the doctor’s negligence which can be either physical or mental pain, loss of income or incurring additional medical costs.
What You Should Do?
If you have been a victim of medical malpractice It is always advisable to seek the help of a medical malpractice attorney first, who will provide consultation at absolutely no cost.
At the Monk Law Firm, we take up medical malpractice cases on a contingency basis and all you need to do is give us a call and our medical malpractice lawyer would be happy to help you.
What you need to do after you or a loved one has been involved in a Medical Issue with injury or death in Athens GA
If you or someone you love has been injured, or even killed in a medical accident, it is vital that you get professional and knowledgeable help from a law firm that knows how to handle Medical Accidents and Injuries in Athens, GA as well as personal injury cases in Macon GA and Atlanta, GA.
We have been doing this for a long time and know how to advise people on the best course of action. We know when to fight for more, and when to accept an offer. If you accept an offer without legal representation, it may well cost you much more than the attorney would have cost you in the first place.
This is an important time for you and your family. Make sure that you have the information that you need. Reach out to the Monk Law Firm and request a No Cost initial consultation. We will NOT charge you anything out of pocket to represent you. Any fee we earn will come from the settlement that we get for you.
We will always have your best interests at heart. Call or email us today here.
