If you have been a victim of medical malpractice, you might want to consider a lawyer to handle your case. Albany Medical Malpractice lawyers know exactly how to hold healthcare providers accountable for the damage caused to patients by their negligence. It is highly unlikely that the doctor whose negligence it was or the hospital will be honest with you regarding the fault. So, you need to prove some facts that will back your case. Let us know how to prove medical negligence.
Duty of care:
You must establish that the doctor or hospital breached their duty of care to you to prove medical negligence. The first step towards proving medical negligence is that a duty of care existed between a medical professional or health care provider and the plaintiff. Duty of care is a legal obligation on a medical professional to perform their duties with utmost care and without negligence, keeping in mind the patient’s safety. The healthcare professional should execute duties like examination, diagnosis, and treatment with reasonable care.
The next step is to prove whether they have breached their duty of care. There are two major categories here – failure of warning or negligent treatment. To prove either, an expert opinion is normally obtained.
Failure of warning:
Failure of warning is when a medical professional omits any advice, excludes important information or warning about a treatment that later causes harm to the patient. The patient should get information like:
- Severity of the injury
- Alternative treatment
- Necessity of the surgery
- Chances of injury, etc.
Negligent treatment:
Negligent treatment occurs when a medical professional’s actions cause harm or injury to the patient, such as:
- Misdiagnosis
- Botched surgery
- Misreport test results
- Medication errors, etc.
When a medical professional acts in a way that is generally accepted as standard medical practice at the time of the treatment, it is not considered negligent. To prove this, an expert opinion should be sought. The expert will determine whether the medical professional acted within the bounds of her professional competence.
Causation:Â
Just like how it is necessary to prove breach of duty of care, it is equally crucial to prove the breach caused harm/injury to the patient.
Causation is the notion that the harm could not happen without negligence, and that the harm could have been avoided had there been no negligence. There is causation if a medical professional’s negligence contributes to the injury.
Damages:
Depending on the severity, the patient can claim compensation for the following:
- Pain and suffering
- Past and future loss of income
- Past and future care
- Past and future medical expenses, etc.
