The following list of medical malpractice terms should assist patients with better understanding their legal rights when it comes to evaluating their ability to make malpractice claims against health care providers.
- Damages: If a medical professional is found negligent, any damages suffered by a patient as the result of this negligence are the responsibility of the medical professional, at least financially speaking. What are damages though? Damages include both economic and non-economic losses a given patient suffers due to the negligent action of a doctor. Some common examples of economic damages include medical costs to correct mistakes, lost wages due to medical injuries, or the cost of future medical procedures to correct medical errors. Some common examples of non-economic damages include pain, suffering, emotional distress, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of quality of life, and many others. Patients may only recover damages, if they are caused by the negligence of a health care professional they are filing suit against
- Duty of Care: Any patient entering under the care of a physician or health care professional is legally entitled to the right to receive treatment at a standard of care. This means that a patient can expect medical evaluation, treatment, and procedures on par with the performance and outcome of any other similarly practicing medical professional, if faced with the same patient and symptoms.
- Defendant and Plaintiff: In a civil setting, the plaintiff will be a patient who has filed suit against negligent doctors and medical staff, and on the other hand, the defendants will be any party named in a given plaintiff’s suit, which allege each party is liable for a certain amount of damages
- Proximate Cause: In any malpractice claim, a patient will be tasked with proving a given health care professional’s negligence as the proximate cause of their injuries and related damages. In essence, proximate cause is defined as any incident or event of negligence by a doctor that contributes or causes definable and legally recognized damages in a patient.
- Medical Negligence: Negligence is any action or omission of action by a health care professional or staff member, which violates a standard duty of care owed to a given patient. Negligence, in a given situation, may vary widely, but is based on the question, “would a normally functioning medical professional, while working in the same capacity and under the same circumstances, come to a different conclusion or taken a different action, or if making the same decisions and taking the same actions would a reasonable medical professional performed better?”
- Liable parties: Liability, in the context of medical malpractice, is any responsibility for damages that a given entity has, if a patient files a malpractice claim. In practice, liable parties named as defendants in a given malpractice lawsuit may include any individual or business entity charged with owing a patient a duty of care, which was violated. This often includes physicians, surgeons, medical staff, employers (such as hospitals or health care organizations), and even financial supporters of health care facilities, in the event negligence and damages have occurred.
Getting Legal Help with Medical Malpractice Claims
The nature of medical malpractice claims is one that involves not only complex language, but also more relevantly, complex legal elements, which only an attorney can adequately convey in a language and manner that will prompt a favorable settlement or trial outcome for a patient. If you believe you have been the victim of medical malpractice, consult with an attorney immediately for further assistance and investigation into the viability of your claims.
