Medical Malpractice Law

The branch of personal law covering pain and suffering resulting from gross mistakes, negligence and bad judgment by doctors, hospitals and care providers is known as medical malpractice law.

The origin of the medical malpractice law is an extension of the general body of negligence law. It covers all lawsuits by attorneys against medical professionals including doctors, nurses, hospitals, physical therapists, pharmacists, chiropractors, and podiatrists, on negligence charges in rendering medical services to patients.

As per common law, the duty of due care by medical professionals was necessitated by contractual obligations involving a patient’s contract with a health care provider for availing health care services. Some jurisdictions may continue to retain common law contractual concepts for medical malpractice suits but medical malpractice law is now treated as an independent action in tort instead of contractual by a majority of attorneys, judges and legal scholars.

Courts address several issues to determine whether or not it is a case of medical malpractice. An example is to determine if the doctor, hospital or care provider actually had the responsibility for providing treatment, if there was failure to do so, if someone was harmed and if the injury was a direct result of the failure to provide treatment. All these criteria have to be fulfilled in order to qualify for medical malpractice law.

As medical malpractice law is a highly technical field of law, lawsuits generally have fierce defense by financially powerful firms. The costs of pursuing these lawsuits can prove to be astronomical with $100,000 plus lawsuits being common. As prosecution of malpractice claim in medical malpractice law calls for a high degree of technical skills, the best option is to approach a specialized firm. A lawyer with insufficient experience can prove insufficiently knowledgeable about medical issues involved or is more likely to commit a technical error, which can be disastrous for a case resulting in loss or dismissal.

For specialized practice of medical malpractice law there may also be lawyers with subspecialties of practice. Examples include specialization in surgical errors, misdiagnosis and birth trauma cases.

Naturally, a number of other medical malpractice laws and situations may require consideration prior to arriving at a ruling. Each state may differ in case procedures, rulings and statutes of limitations but generally speaking, certain types of cases have a high frequency of occurrence in medical malpractice law. These may include non-compliance of set procedures, failure to diagnose cancer, wrongful death, improper diagnosis and wrongful birth or birth defects.

In each of the cases, financial reward is being sought by the client for the perceived loss or damage resulting from the malpractice. The reward may be in the form of compensatory damages or punitive damages and the client may be eligible for either one or both the damages in the event of the court ruling in favor of medical malpractice.

Compensatory damages are monies awarded as compensation to the victim for the financial, physical or emotional loss arising from the malpractice. On the other hand punitive damages involve monies awarded as a means of setting an example in the form of punishment to the offender, in this case a doctor, so as to discourage misconduct in the future.

In initiation of medical malpractice law, one needs to be aware of the long-drawn difficult process involved. You may be made to answer very personal questions that may be in the form of interrogatories or written questions and depositions or live testimony taken under oath usually at the attorney’s office. The amount of time involved may be surprisingly substantial in assisting your attorney in your case. Some cases may be resolved quickly while others can easily take months if not years to be resolved.