When we put our lives in a doctor’s hands, we trust that they will do their absolute best while managing our care. Unfortunately, doctors sometimes fail to live up to our expectations. When a medical provider makes a medical mistake or acts negligently while treating a patient, the results can be life-threatening, causing a worsened condition, permanent harm, or even death. Although nothing can erase an injury or undo the damage caused by a medical error, a successful medical malpractice claim helps the injury victim, or the surviving family member of a deceased medical malpractice victim, recover compensation and achieve a sense of justice through financial accountability.
A Phoenix medical malpractice lawyer can help determine whether the provider’s actions deviated from the accepted standard of care and guide victims through the legal process. A successful medical malpractice case must demonstrate that the medical provider did not meet the accepted standard of care while treating their patient.
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Understanding the Standard of Care In Medical Malpractice Cases
What Is “Standard of Care” In Medical Malpractice Cases?
Most personal injury claims center on the understanding that people owe a general duty of reasonable care to avoid causing harm to others. Violating that duty of care leaves the wrongdoer liable for damages to the person harmed by their negligence. A medical malpractice claim is different because doctors are held to a higher standard of care. A doctor’s standard of care compels them to treat a patient at the level of care that’s accepted by the medical community. The national standard for medical care is described as follows:
“…that level of care, skill and treatment which, in light of all relevant surrounding circumstances, is recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar health care providers.”
Failing to live up to the expected standard of care, such as neglecting to order the correct diagnostic tests, prescribing a medication that’s contraindicated for a patient due to the failure to read the patient’s medication history, or performing surgery on the wrong body part are all examples of doctors’ actions that do not meet the medical community’s standard of care.
Proving a Medical Provider Violated Their Duty of Care
A successful medical malpractice claim requires substantial evidence that the doctor or other medical provider violated the standard of care owed to a patient. The evidence presented in the case must demonstrate the legal tenets of liability for medical malpractice as described below.
The Doctor-Patient Relationship
First, the injury victim must clearly demonstrate that a doctor-patient relationship existed at the time the malpractice occurred. In other words, if a person complains about an upset stomach at a neighbor’s barbecue and the neighbor says they should take an antacid when they get home, the sick person cannot later sue the neighbor for malpractice if their appendix ruptures even if the neighbor was a doctor. This is because a doctor-patient relationship did not exist at the neighbor’s barbecue.
Proving the doctor-patient relationship was in place when the malpractice occurred requires presenting evidence, such as a provider’s admittance form, medical bills, receipts, and medical records.
Breach of Duty
Medical providers have a legal obligation to live up to the standard of care accepted by the medical community. A successful case must prove that the doctor breached this duty of care by a medical mistake or negligence. If a doctor fails to treat a patient in the same manner as another reasonable provider would under the same circumstances, it constitutes a breach of their duty of care to the patient.
The Breach of Duty Caused Injury
The doctor’s medical malpractice insurance company may assert that the injury, worsened medical condition, or death did not occur as a result of the doctor’s actions. A successful claim must show clear evidence that the doctor’s breach of duty directly caused the patient’s injury and that their symptoms are not caused by a previous injury or one that occurred while not in the doctor’s care.
The Injury Victim Suffered Damages from The Medical Malpractice
Finally, the person harmed by the malpractice. or the closest surviving family member of a medical malpractice victim who died from their injury, must show evidence that they suffered economic damages as well as the physical harm. Common damages in medical malpractice claims include past and future medical expenses, lost wages, future income loss or reduced future earning ability, and compensation for pain and suffering. Additional compensation may be available for catastrophic injury, such as loss of limb, disfigurement, or disability.
If the malpractice victim died from the harm caused to them, the claim becomes a medical malpractice, wrongful-death lawsuit. A wrongful death lawsuit allows a grieving family member, such as a spouse, parent, or adult child, to recover compensation for damages, such as funeral and burial costs, the lost income for the remaining working years the decedent would have had remaining to them, and compensation for emotional grief and anguish.
What Are the Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice Cases?
There are many ways that a medical provider could violate the standard of care they owe to their patient. Unfortunately, some types of medical malpractice claims are not uncommon in court, including medication mistakes, misdiagnosis, missed diagnosis, delayed diagnosis, anesthesia mistakes, and lack of informed consent. Surgical errors also happen more often than you might think, including surgical instruments left behind, or wrong-patient, wrong-side, or wrong-site surgeries. Surgical malpractice, such as wrong-side or wrong-site surgeries, is especially egregious because often the patient has to undergo another surgery on the correct site later, enduring far more pain and suffering.
What Providers are Bound by the Medical Community’s Accepted Standard of Care?
Most medical malpractice claims are filed against a negligent doctor, but all medical providers owe a legal duty of care to their patients. Common providers named in medical malpractice lawsuits include doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, dentists, chiropractors, and surgical team members. A skilled medical malpractice attorney investigates the malpractice and identifies the liable party and then pinpoints the appropriate insurance company with which to file a medical malpractice claim to recover their client’s damages.
Do I Have to Go To Court For a Medical Malpractice Case?
Most claims end in a settlement from the provider’s medical malpractice insurance company, especially when the injury victim has assertive legal representation throughout the process. However, if the insurance company wrongfully denies the claim, endlessly delays progress, or significantly undervalues its worth, a trial-ready medical malpractice lawyer takes the case to court for a jury to decide.
Although a trial is more time-consuming than a settlement, juries are often highly sympathetic to injury victims and tend to decide in their favor, resulting in large court awards for their damages.