Mistakes happen in any profession, but if you are a doctor, it can have severe consequences. Doctors are held to higher standards; if you suspect they did not meet them, you can sue for medical malpractice.
Read on to learn more about this type of medical negligence, including how to prove your case when a provider commits medical malpractice, the statute of limitations, and how a personal injury lawyer can help you get justice.
A Chicago medical negligence attorney from Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers will guide you through filing a medical malpractice claim. You can recover compensation for your damages and prevent it from happening to anyone else.
Definition of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is a form of negligence where a medical professional fails to provide appropriate care. A doctor’s negligence resulted in significant harm to the patient, including loss of quality of life, mobility issues, and even death.
Common types of medical malpractice you can sue a doctor include:
- Misdiagnosis: A doctor may misdiagnose your illness, which leads to additional health problems and medical bills.
- Medication errors: Mistakenly giving patients the wrong medication or incorrect dosages can be fatal.
- Surgical errors: Doctors can operate on the wrong body part, make unnecessary incisions, or leave a foreign object in the body.
- Failure to treat: Doctors can fail to treat patients properly.
There are many different types of medical malpractice claims you can pursue. If the healthcare provider was responsible for your care or consulted on your case and their recommendations led to harm, they can face medical malpractice lawsuits. The burden of proof is on you and your legal team to prove negligence.
Proving Medical Negligence
A common question personal injury attorneys often get is, “Can you sue a doctor for negligence?” Yes, you can, but to sue a doctor, you must prove that medical negligence occurred. Here are the four steps to establishing liability.
Duty of Care
Medical professionals owe their patients a duty of care during their treatment. Patients put their lives in doctors’ hands, and it is not a decision that should be taken lightly. This is standard in the doctor-patient relationship. They should provide skilled and competent care, including:
- Properly investigating symptoms
- Diagnosing illnesses correctly
- Providing a treatment plan, including connecting with specialists as needed
- Reasonably preventing harm throughout the entire process
Doctors, consulting physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals all have a duty of care to their patients. If healthcare providers breach it, they can be sued for medical malpractice.
Breach of Duty
If the medical professional is not upholding the duty of care, they can be found in breach of duty. There are many reasons a reasonable doctor can be found in breach of duty, including:
- Misdiagnosis or failing to diagnose conditions at all
- Conducting surgeries that are unnecessary, incorrect, or cause harm.
- Failing to monitor a patient’s condition properly
- Discharging patients before they are ready
- Not getting informed consent
If a medical professional acts negligently or provides substandard treatment, they are in breach of duty. An experienced attorney can help you prove that a doctor breached duty. Proving a medical provider breached duty is crucial for a malpractice lawsuit.
Causation
You need to prove that you faced significant personal injuries, financial costs, and other burdens due to the healthcare provider’s negligence. Examples of causation can be:
- Unnecessary surgery could have caused permanent paralysis or loss of sensation in a body part
- Misdiagnosis caused your condition to worsen
- Premature discharge prevented your healing and caused additional medical treatment costs
- A doctor did not provide the care owed
- Emotional distress is common in a malpractice case
After establishing the breach of care, you must determine whether the doctor’s actions or inaction directly caused your personal injury for a successful malpractice case.
Damages
Lastly, you must prove that you suffered damages due to the healthcare provider’s medical negligence. These could be economic and non-economic damages, including:
- Medical expenses: Doctor’s visits, physical therapy, ambulance rides, hospitalization, and other medical care costs can be recovered in medical malpractice cases.
- Mental health: Many injury victims can develop depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health conditions as a result of the malpractice.
- Lost wages: If you cannot work due to the injury, you can recover lost wages. These can be past, current, and future wages.
- Pain and suffering: Not all damages are physical. You can also face emotional pain and suffering following medical malpractice. This amount is typically a multiplier of the physical and actual financial burden you endured.
- Punitive damages: Punitive damages deter professionals from committing the same crime again and punish the defendant.
You must prove these damages with documentation, including doctor’s reports, statements from work, experts with specialized knowledge, and more. You can reclaim fair compensation for past, current, or future damages and tangible and intangible injuries.
Gathering Evidence for a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
As you prepare for a medical malpractice lawsuit, you must gather evidence to support your claim. Here are some examples of information that can strengthen your case.
Medical Records
Obtain copies of all your medical records. This can include:
- Initial injury reports
- Doctor visit summaries
- Doctor recommendations
- Surgery summaries
- Health history
Your healthcare provider will often digitize these medical records, so download them and keep copies to support your case. Your records tell the story of how you became a victim of medical malpractice, so you must preserve them.
Expert Testimony
Your medical malpractice claim may require expert witness testimony, depending on the state you are filing. This is called a certificate of merit or an affidavit of merit, and it certifies that your claim is legitimate. You must file this document before filing a suit in many states.
A medical expert can testify about the standard of care expected for your specific case. Based on their experience, the doctor breached their duty in the care they provided to you. Statements from expert witnesses are critical in establishing your medical malpractice case and substantiating your claim in court.
Requirements may vary from state, city, and jurisdiction, and medical malpractice lawyers can help you navigate your options.
Witness Statements
Witness statements help corroborate your version of events. They can help:
- Support your claims of medical malpractice
- Provide a picture of who the doctor is
- Demonstrate the type of care they provide
- Share the conditions where your care took place
- Offer other accounts of similar treatment
Witness statements, especially those from a qualified expert, and the specifics of your case will be considered during a medical malpractice lawsuit. The more evidence you have, the stronger your lawsuit will be.
Take down the name and contact information of anyone who may have witnessed your issue. It will help you when you choose to file a lawsuit.
Statute of Limitations for a Medical Malpractice Claim
The statute of limitations is the time limit to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. If you do not file within the time frame, you cannot sue the doctor for medical malpractice. There may be exceptions, and here’s all you need to know.
Time Limits
The statute of limitations for a medical malpractice lawsuit varies from state to state. In general, you have about two years to seek compensation from the date of the injury, though some states may even give you up to four years to file.
Several states offer exceptions based on extenuating circumstances, including:
- If you don’t immediately discover the injury
- If you were a minor when the medical malpractice occurred
Consult with a seasoned team of medical malpractice lawyers to understand the statute of limitations in your state.
Discovery Rule
The discovery rule may extend the statute of limitations in certain medical malpractice cases. Some medical malpractice issues are not immediately apparent. They may take time to show up, which can cause the original statute of limitation to run out before you know something is wrong.
That’s where the discovery rule comes in. The medical malpractice statute of limitations in Illinois for you to seek compensation will begin from the moment you discover the injury. Then, you have two to four years to file a claim.
The Role of a Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Medical malpractice cases can be complex, and the right medical malpractice lawyer can help you understand the legal process, provide recommendations, and get a fair settlement.
Legal Expertise
Medical malpractice lawyers deeply understand the law. They know what you need to prove your case, including:
- Discovery rule: Even if the case is outside the statute of limitations, the discovery rule may apply if you just learned of the injury. The time limit can start from the moment of discovery.
- Expert testimony: They can help get a medical professional to provide a certificate of merit to prove that medical malpractice caused your injury.
- Evidence: Lawyers can help investigate your claim and gather evidence in your medical malpractice case. They have access to information and records that you may not be able to get without their support.
Personal injury lawyers understand how to apply medical malpractice law to your case and make it work for you to support your lawsuit best.
Negotiation Skills
An experienced medical malpractice attorney possesses strong negotiation skills that help secure a favorable settlement.
They understand the minimum settlement you should receive and will not accept anything less. Lawyers negotiate with various parties to get you a fair settlement, including:
- Healthcare providers
- Doctors
- Attorneys
- Judges
- Insurance companies
Your lawyer’s job is to provide you with the strongest representation possible, and they will negotiate with everyone involved in your case to get you a substantial settlement. Your medical malpractice attorney is your intermediary. They deal with all the details so you can focus on healing.
Advocacy
Medical malpractice attorneys are your advocates throughout the entire process.
- They advocate for your rights. Your lawyers know what you are entitled to, and it is their job to not settle for less.
- They stand up for you. Large hospitals and medical practices may try to steamroll over your rights, but your attorney will make sure that doesn’t happen. You deserve to get justice for your doctor’s negligence.
- They maximize your compensation. Many practices will try to settle quickly and expect victims to accept the first offer. A skilled medical malpractice lawyer understands the games others play and will not fall for them.
It can be intimidating to sue a doctor, but good medical malpractice lawyers explain every step of the journey to you. They answer your questions and make you feel comfortable during medical malpractice lawsuits.
Secure Expert Legal Representation!
If you believe that you or your loved ones are the victims of medical malpractice and negligence, you have rights. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers can help you get justice. To date, we have recovered more than $50 million in medical malpractice cases, including:
- $12.3 million for a wrongful death due to post-surgical complications.
- $12 million for a brain injury and limb amputation because of a surgical error
- $9 million for a failure to diagnose a heart attack
These are just a sample of what we’ve recovered for our clients. Contact us today for a free consultation at (888) 424-5757 or by completing the form on our website to get started. Our Chicago personal injury lawyers are on standby to help you if you are a victim of medical malpractice.