Medical malpractice cases are some of the most complex civil claims, and having a meritorious medical malpractice case requires more than just a mistake by a doctor or an unfavorable outcome of a medical treatment. While doctors make mistakes everyday, not every medical mistake will make a good medical malpractice case. There are complicated legal issues as well as economic factors that must all be accounted for in order to warrant filing a medical malpractice lawsuit.
This article will address the basics of both the legal and economic elements necessary for a good medical malpractice case.
Medical Negligence, Damages and Causation
First, the legal requirements. As in any civil injury case, there are three elements that need to be present in order to have a good case. They are negligence, damages (injury) and causation.
Negligence
Negligence refers to a doctors error, or more precisely, deviation from the accepted medical standard of care. For a given medical treatment, there is a standard of care that outlines the general procedures for diagnosing and treating a patient.
For example, if a 50 year old man is admitted into a hospital with complaints of chest pains, there are standards of care in place to ensure the man is checked for possible heart disease to prevent or mitigate a heart attack. If the patient is discharged without the appropriate testing, this may be grounds for medical negligence.
Similarly, a surgeon is required to maintain a certain level hygiene prior to surgery to minimize the possibility of the patient acquiring an infection. If the surgeon (or medical staff) fails to properly disinfect the surgical instruments, this also may be grounds for negligence.
Injury
In civil injury law (which include medical malpractice), the term injury refers to a wrongdoing to a person for which compensation may be awarded. A good, everyday example of a civil injury claim is a car accident. If you rear end someone at a red light, and cause damage to their car and injury to the driver, you may be held liable for the damages (injury and property damage in this case).
Similarly, in a valid case of medical negligence, the lawsuit is filed demanding compensation for the damages. Common damages in a medical malpractice case are medical expenses, lost income, future lost earnings, future medical costs, pain and suffering and other less common damages.
If a patient suffers from poor treatment due to medical negligence, but it not caused some type of monetary or physical damages, then there is nothing to sue for.
Causation
Causation is the legal requirement and evidence that links the medical negligence to the injury. One of the most difficult elements to prove in a medical malpractice case is exactly how negligent medical care directly lead to an undue patient injury.
As an example, suppose a woman undergoes a hysterectomy, and during the procedure the anesthesiologist makes a mistake in the mixture causing hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain). Several days later, after her recovery she begins to feel as if she is in a constant state of daze. It turns out she has suffered mild brain damage. It will need to be proven through evidence and expert medical testimony that during the treatment, hypoxia caused brain injury.
This is a simple example, and in real life medical malpractice cases involve complicated and often ambiguous evidence.
The Result
All this legal terminology essentially boils down to one sentence. A patient was treated negligently, and as a result, suffered undue injury. Once this can be established through the evidence and expert testimony, then the case is said to be "meritorious".
Most cases of medical malpractice will need to have an expert certify that they are meritorious before a lawsuit can even be filed with the court. This rule is in place in many states to prevent unwarranted lawsuits from occupying the already limited resources of the civil court system.
Money in Medical Malpractice
Many viable cases of medical malpractice will never see the light of day, not for legal reasons but rather, economic ones. Medical malpractice cases are uniquely complicated and expensive to investigate and prosecute. Since medical malpractice lawyers almost always work on a contingency basis, they often have to spend upwards of $50,000 just to investigate the claim, build a case and file the lawsuit.
If the damages involved in the case do not warrant an award large enough to cover the costs of the suit and adequately compensate the victim, then a medical malpractice attorney will have to advise the client to walk away. It's not always fair, but it's the way our legal system is setup and it does filter out all but the most serious cases of medical malpractice.
How to Find Out if Yours is a Good Case
The only way to find out if yours is a good case is to talk to a medical malpractice lawyer. Almost every medical malpractice lawyer will offer a free consultation where you can explain your case and get the advice you need to make an informed decision about pursuing a medical malpractice claim.
