How Do You Prove Medical Malpractice - Things You Must Know

When seeking medical treatment, you’re placing your safety, well-being, and in some cases, your life in the hands of a medical provider. This is exactly why medical malpractice is such a big deal because negligence on the part of the medical provider can cause grave injury or even death to the affected individual. 

Despite the complexity of the issue, if improper conduct by a medical provider caused you or a loved one harm, you may be entitled to receive compensation for what you suffered. 

The key word here is “may” because there are some inherent difficulties in demonstrating that medical malpractice occurred in a court of law. Thus, to help ease your mind, we’ve put together a concise article that will help answer the question of how do you prove medical malpractice. 

How difficult is it to prove medical malpractice?

The quick answer is very. Matters surrounding negligence on the part of a physician are very complicated, regardless of the way medical negligence occurs. It doesn’t matter if the core issue is a surgical error, misdiagnosis, improper treatment, or even an incorrect medication, as proving that it happened will take a lot of effort. 

The biggest reason for the difficulty of medical malpractice cases is the burden of proof, which is more convoluted and held to a higher standard than in regular personal injury cases. For starters, medical professionals have years of training and education, and use methodologies and techniques to treat patients that are simply too complex for laymen to understand. As such, questioning the medical choices of a healthcare professional (even if the injury is apparent) will require a comprehensive investigation by attorneys and independent medical experts.

Furthermore, multiple medical professionals may be involved. Since the defendant's careers are on the line and their insurance companies are looking to minimize expenses, the negligent parties will fight to the bitter end to avoid liability. 

We wrote at length about the most common defense tactics medical professionals and their legal teams use to defend against malpractice accusations, and one thing is certain - the odds are tipped against you because you are dealing with professionals who will do almost anything to save their careers. 

Conditions you need to prove in court to win a case

Now we get to the meaty part - information on how do you prove medical malpractice. To demonstrate that the malpractice took place, you need to show that your case has four elements:

1. Existence of a doctor-patient relationship

As a plaintiff, you must show to the court that you had a doctor-patient relationship with the defendant. It doesn’t matter whether this individual is someone who treated you for a significant amount of time or someone who you had one appointment with - if they provided you with treatment or advice, the doctor-patient relationship was established. 

This particular element is very easy to prove as you only need medical bills and records that show the doctor-patient relationship with the defendant existed.

2. Defendant failed to uphold the standard of care

Upon establishing a doctor-patient relationship with the patient, a medical provider takes on the so-called duty of care. Thus, they have a legal obligation to provide the patient with care that meets a strict standard accepted within the medical profession. 

This is where it gets tricky. 

Proving negligence in a medical malpractice case necessitates you demonstrate that a medical professional failed to provide you with treatment or advice that another medical professional (of similar expertise and education) would have under similar circumstances. This requires extensive medical records, taking multiple testimonies or sworn statements, and conducting a full-fledged deposition.

In addition, your attorney must also hire a medical expert who will provide testimony to describe the standard of care and demonstrate how the defendant’s actions fell short of the aforementioned standard. 

3. Negligence lead to injury and harm

Another hurdle you must overcome in a medical malpractice case is demonstrating that the

negligent actions of the healthcare provider caused additional harm to you or a loved one. 

Unfortunately, in many cases, the plaintiff was already experiencing medical issues when they sought treatment. This muddies the waters significantly and makes it harder to prove that more likely than not, the physician's actions led to the harm and not the pre-existing medical condition. 

4. Harm resulted in damages

If the first three elements exist in your case, you then need to prove that the actions of the defendant led to actual and measurable losses. Here are some examples of such losses:

• 
  Physical pain or suffering
• New illnesses, injuries, or disabilities
• Psychological pain
• Disfigurement and scarring
• Loss of enjoyment in life
• Loss of consortium
• Medical costs
• Loss of income
• Costs of replacement services or care
• Home or vehicle modifications
• Loss of earning capacity

In cases where negligence led to wrongful death, the family of the victim has the right to recover compensation for medical bills, funeral and burial expenses, loss of consortium, and loss of future income. 

Ensure your case stands in court

Now that you know how do you prove medical malpractice, you can take the necessary steps to ensure you build a strong case. Due to the complexities of the matter at hand, you should hire an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as you discover your injury. That way, you have plenty of time to build a case and recover compensation as soon as possible. 

It’s worth noting that the experience of the attorney you hire will also have an impact on the outcome of the case. Because of this, you should hire experts in the field of malpractice, and there’s no one better in this regard than Sowell Chakour.

Our law firm is special, not only because of our specialization in medical malpractice but also because one of our lead attorneys is a former surgeon. This provides an unprecedented level of insider knowledge and medical expertise impossible to find elsewhere. 

Prove your case and fight for justice - call (833) 633-6257 or fill out our contact form.

Note: 

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not make legal decisions based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.