Medical Malpractice Lawyer: Who Can I Sue if I Detect Malpractice?
If you visited a doctor and were harmed by the line of treatment, you can sue the doctor for medical negligence or malpractice. While doctors are most commonly in charge of medical malpractice, a lawsuit can also be filed against pharmacists, nurses, anesthesiologists including the organizations that employ them.
The law permits you to sue for malpractice if your well being was in the hands of someone, but you got injured due to their negligence. While you may be understandably agitated and frustrated to file the case against the guilty, you must also be aware of the general rules while suing for medical malpractice.
Common Types of Medical Malpractice
You might have heard of various incidences of medical negligence such as doctor leaving an operating instrument or a sponge inside the patient's body during an operation. It could also be in the form of failure to inform the patient about the side effects associated with a drug. The most common medical malpractice cases are listed here:
Failure to diagnose or prescribing improper treatment
If your doctor failed to diagnose your illness correctly and provided unsuitable treatment, you may sue your doctor for medical malpractice or negligence. You must, however, be able to prove the same in the court.
Failure to warn
All doctors are responsible to warn patients of associated risks of a medical procedure. You may sue your doctor for medical negligence if the doctor fails to warn you of known risks.
Special Requirements in Medical Malpractice Cases
Statute of limitations
Cases related to medical malpractice or negligence must be brought immediately after the patient discovers the same fairly between six months to two years. This may, however, vary from state to state.
Medical malpractice review panels
You may be required to submit your claim to a malpractice panel for review. The panel of experts would ascertain whether negligence or malpractice occurred after hearing the arguments. The panel though cannot award penalties.
Special notice
You may be required to give prior notification to the doctor you are bringing the malpractice claim against; this varies from states to state.
Expert testimony
A qualified expert often strengthens your case and is often crucial aspect while suing a doctor for malpractice or negligence. Barring some cases, an expert affidavit or expert testimony is required during the proceedings.
Limits on damage awards
Some states also limit the amount of money that may be awarded to the victim of medical malpractice or negligence.
Basic Requirements for a Claim
You must be able to prove doctor-patient relationship while suing your doctor for medical negligence or malpractice. Additionally, you must meet the following requirements to prove that medical malpractice occurred:
Negligence of doctor
You can’t sue your doctor if you are unhappy with the treatment or results. In order to sue for malpractice, you must be able to prove your doctor’s negligence in diagnosing the disease or treatment. You may be required to prove that the treatment caused you damage or harm. The care or treatment may not be the best, but it must be reasonably acceptable, careful and skillful.
Majority of the states require the patient to present a medical expert who can discuss the suitable standard of care by medical representatives. The expert must also be able to prove the defendant’s negligence and deviation from such standard.
Proving the doctor's negligence caused the injury
While it is important to prove that the doctor’s negligence caused the patient injury or harm, it is also very difficult to prove the same. For instance, a patient dies after being treated for heart attack. In such case, it might get difficult to prove that the patient died of doctor's negligence, not of heart failure.
Specific damages
You can’t sue your doctor if you didn’t suffer any damage or harm. However, you may sue your doctor medical practitioner for the following types of harm:
Alvin F. de Levie is a 1973, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and a 1976 graduate of the Villanova University School of Law. He is an expert in Pennsylvania Law revolving around medical malpractice and personal injury.
Mr. de Levie has consistently been voted by his peers to receive Martindale-Hubbell's "AV Preeminent" 5.0 out of 5.0 rating. An AV Preeminent rating is the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards.
