How a Doctors Negligence can Lead to Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is an area of the law that is open to interpretation and understanding how a doctors negligence can lead to medical malpractice involves understanding the standard of care.  To determine whether or not you have a valid medical malpractice case from your doctor's negligence, you must determine whether or not what the doctor did or did not do, constitutes medical malpractice. 

Medical malpractice is typically defined as a breach of the standard of care, whether intentionally through improper practices or shortcuts, or unintentionally through negligence and failure to provide the highest standards of care and adhere to the best practices in medicine. The negligence or breach of the standard of care must result in a patient’s injury or death to constitute malpractice.

How Negligence Can Lead to Medical Malpractice

Typically, medical malpractice is described in plain language as actions that would not have been taken by a reasonably prudent health care provider in the same situation.  So, if a doctor amputates your right hand when the charts clearly stated that your left hand was to be amputated, this is a case of medical malpractice as a result of negligence.  However, if a doctor who has pioneered a successful treatment that has worked with others uses it on you and it causes an unforeseen reaction to your body, this would not be considered medical malpractice unless the doctor was somehow negligent in not making sure the treatment would work.

In many cases, the definition of malpractice and whether a doctor's negligence rises to the level of malpractice hinges one expert testimony.  Often, qualified medical professionals must create a sworn statement that the patient’s treatment (or lack of treatment) by the doctor was to blame for the patients injury or death.

If you are able to successfully prove a case of legitimate medical malpractice, your potential reimbursement depends largely upon the state where the injury took place.  Many states have adopted a cap on the amount of punitive damages (i.e., compensation for pain and suffering) that can be awarded in a malpractice lawsuit.  These caps exist due to tort reform efforts designed to lower the cost of health care by lowering the cost of malpractice insurance. Connecticut, for example, has no limit on the amount of total damages that can be awarded in a malpractice lawsuit, while California limits non-economic damages (damages not directly related to the cost of the procedure or loss of income resulting from the procedure) to $250,000 per case.