How do I know if I have a medical malpractice case?

In order to have a valid medical malpractice case, you need to meet the requirements of medical negligence and injury, as well as suffer damages large enough to warrant an award that would be greater than the cost of the lawsuit itself. Here are some questions to ask yourself to determine if you may be a victim of medical malpractice.

Were You Injured Unnecessarily?

One of the most critical elements of a medical malpractice case, or any civil tort case for that matter, is some form of damages. Damages in a medical malpractice case include medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost income, diminished earning capacity, loss of consortium, disfigurement or disability and future medical bills.

Obviously, serious cases of medical malpractice will often have all of these types of damages, but the main point is that the patient was caused an injury that stopped them from being able to work and/or caused medical problems that cost them monetarily.

Did the Doctor Make an Error in Treatment?

Secondly, the injury must be something that should have been avoided, had the doctor or medical staff done their duty as they were supposed to. There is an accepted medical standard of care to which every doctor, nurse and medical professional must adhere. Any deviation from this standard is grounds for medical negligence.

A doctor or hospital may be held legally liable for any patient injury resulting from negligent medical treatment.

Did the Medical Error Cause the Injury?

Next, once medical negligence has been established; ask yourself if it caused your injury. If a doctor makes a mistake, or deviates from the standard of care but it does not cause any injury then there is not medical malpractice case.

This is often a very difficult part of a medical malpractice case to prove, as medicine is a very complex practice. In all medical malpractice cases, a neutral third party doctor will be consulted to investigate the details of the treatment and determine if and how negligent medical care caused an injury.

Is the Injury Serious?

Medical malpractice cases are notoriously complex and expensive to pursue. Lawyers who practice in this area of law have to be picky about which cases they choose to take, because they will be the ones fronting tens of thousands of dollars or more to bring the suit and prosecute it.

If the injury is small, then there aren't enough damages to warrant the risk of filing the lawsuit. For example, take a patient who underwent surgery, and due to negligent treatment by the surgeon, suffered an infection. A day later, she was back in the hospital being treated for sepsis and recovered three days later.

In this case, the damages are probably too small to warrant a lawsuit, because the combination of a few days or a week of missed work plus three days of medical care may only cost a few thousand dollars. However, if that same patient had her symptoms ignored and suffered severe sepsis causing permanent injury to her internal organs and some level of disability, then a lawyer may be more likely to take the case.

When to Talk to a Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Ultimately, the details of any given medical malpractice case are going to be too complex to answer on a webpage. If you believe you may have a medical malpractice case, do not hesitate to talk to a medical malpractice lawyer right away. These attorneys all offer a free initial consultation where you can explain your case and get legal advice regarding your options to get compensation for the wrongdoing.

Good Luck.