The Key to Proving Medical Negligence
In any personal injury claim, including medical malpractice cases, proving negligence is one of the most important focuses that plaintiffs and their attorneys should have. If a medical professional makes a mistake or error rooted in negligence, an injured patient may file a medical malpractice claim against them. By working with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer, patients can gather evidence to prove the 4 elements of negligence necessary for a successful medical negligence claim.
If a medical professional’s negligence has injured you, we strongly recommend speaking with a personal injury attorney with experience in these cases. Negligent medical treatment can involve surgical errors, medication errors, misdiagnosis, and much more. A qualified medical malpractice lawyer in Houston with Reich & Binstock will evaluate the facts of your case and advise you on the best course of action.
To schedule your free consultation with one of our compassionate personal injury lawyers, please call our office at 713-622-7271 today.
The 4 Elements of Malpractice
A successful medical malpractice claim requires plaintiffs to prove negligence with the “4 D’s,” as we call them. The 4 D’s of medical negligence include Duty of care, Dereliction of duty, Direct causation, and Damages. Although this may seem like a challenge, working with a skilled personal injury lawyer will give you a much better chance of a favorable medical negligence claim. This is especially true when it comes to preserving the chain of causation.
As we mentioned before, a plaintiff must prove negligence in a medical malpractice or personal injury claim. Although it can be trickier to show medical negligence in contrast to negligence in a car accident, the experience of your attorneys will work in your favor. By working to show the 4 D’s of negligence, we can show that the victim is entitled to recover compensation for their injuries.
In the following sections, we outline the four elements of negligence in malpractice cases, as well as examples of each element.
Duty of Care
Medical professionals who are responsible for a patient’s treatment owe what is called a “duty of care” to that patient. As the plaintiff, you must be able to show that the defendant owed you this duty of care at the time of the alleged medical malpractice. It is entirely possible for more than one medical professional to be a defendant in your case.
Some common examples of healthcare providers who may be held liable for medical negligence include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, surgeons, hospitals, and other healthcare centers. Your medical records can serve as powerful evidence to show that a provider owed you a duty of reasonable care.
Examples of Duty of Care
Imagine that a patient underwent a surgical procedure after a recommendation from their doctor. The surgeon and any other party involved in that patient’s care owes them a duty of care to make sound decisions in their treatment. They must not only take good care of their patient, but also ensure that they properly care for their surgical tools.
Dereliction of Duty
The dereliction of duty involves failing to uphold one’s duty of care. Showing that the defendant breached the duty of care they owed you is essential for proving negligence. Any action or omission that a competent and reasonable medical professional would not have made in the same or similar circumstances could be considered a dereliction of duty.
Many actions and failures to act can fall under the umbrella of dereliction of duty. Some common examples of these include the following.
- Surgical errors
- Operating on the wrong patient or wrong surgery site
- Performing the wrong surgery
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to diagnose or treat a condition
- Medication errors
- Retained surgical instruments
- Defective medical devices
- Birth injuries
- Emergency room errors
By using medical records as evidence, you and your attorney can show that your medical professional’s actions were a dereliction of the duty of care. Statements from medical experts should work to show that other medical professionals under the same circumstances would not have acted the way your provider did.
Examples of Dereliction of Duty
Let’s say a surgeon operates on a patient to remove a tumor. They owe a duty of care to that patient to perform the surgery according to accepted medical standards, as well as to account for all of their surgical tools. If a surgeon leaves a sponge or other surgical instrument inside a patient, this is a very serious dereliction of duty. This is known as a retained surgical instruments lawsuit.
Direct Causation
The third element you and your attorney must show is direct causation. You must show that the defendant’s breach of the duty of care was the direct cause of your illness, injury, or the loss of your loved one. In other words, they directly caused the damages that you suffered.
Examples of Direct Causation
If a patient suffers serious injuries from a surgery that could have only happened during that surgery, this is a clear example of direct causation. Maybe the patient suffered excessive pain, scarring, and other injuries after the surgery. In this case, the surgery directly caused the patient’s injuries and the resulting damages.
Damages
The last of the four elements of negligence is damages. Even if the defendant did take an action that can be considered medical negligence, you likely can’t recover compensation if you didn’t suffer damages as a result. However, if you did suffer compensable losses due to the defendant’s medical negligence, you should be able to recover damages.
Generally speaking, damages are the easiest of the four distinct elements to prove. After all, you likely wouldn’t seek out an attorney unless the provider’s medical negligence resulted in lost wages, medical expenses, or other monetary losses.
Examples of Damages
When medical negligence causes injury to a patient, this can result in quantifiable damages. Those injuries could have extended a patient’s hospital stay and built up extensive medical bills, as well as lost income for the patient. These are clear and measurable damages caused by the negligence of the healthcare professional.
How Will the Defendant Fight Against Your Claim?
It is extremely unlikely that the at-fault party and opposing counsel will go down without a fight. They will do everything they can to prove that at least one of the four elements of negligence isn’t valid. To win your personal injury case, you and your attorney must be able to prove all four with supporting evidence. It is extremely difficult to take on doctors and medical malpractice insurers without solid legal counsel.
Companies that provide medical malpractice insurance to healthcare providers won’t want to pay your claim since they care more about their bottom line than patient safety. They will have teams of lawyers and biased doctors on their side to counter your negligence claims.
With the experience our attorneys bring to the table, you can rest assured that we will do everything in our power to prove the four elements of negligence in your case. We have considerable experience helping victims with their medical malpractice cases, so we know the tactics that defendants use to try avoiding culpability.
How to Prove the 4 Elements of Negligence
Practicing medicine isn’t an exact science, which is a large part of why medical malpractice lawsuits are so complicated. Proving the elements of negligence requires a lot of evidence in the form of medical records, opinions from medical experts, and more. The best way to gather this evidence is to work with a seasoned lawyer with experience in medical malpractice cases.
As long as your evidence proves each individual element of negligence, you have a valid medical negligence claim. The damages that you could recover in a successful claim include the following.
- Lost wages
- Medical bills
- Legal fees
- Medication costs
- Lost quality of life
- Loss of consortium
- Pain and suffering
- Wrongful death
Do You Need a Medical Malpractice Attorney?
Although nobody is required to hire an attorney for a medical malpractice claim, they are exceedingly difficult to win on your own. However, working with a skilled medical malpractice lawyer will give you the necessary support you need for your case. We will investigate the facts of your claim, gather evidence to prove negligence, and fight for full and fair compensation on your behalf.
If you have suffered damages due to medical negligence, you have a right to recover compensation for your losses. We strongly recommend contacting an attorney as soon as possible about your claim. The longer you wait, the greater the risk that your claim will weaken or be invalidated by the statute of limitations medical malpractice Texas.
Contact a Houston Medical Malpractice Attorney at Reich & Binstock Today
If you were injured or lost a loved one due to medical negligence, you may have the basis for a successful injury claim. The medical malpractice team at Reich & Binstock has incredible experience helping injured patients recover compensation for their injuries. We have the knowledge and skill you need for the best possible chance of a favorable outcome in your case. To schedule your free case evaluation with one of our compassionate attorneys, please call our office at 713-622-7271 today.
