Fighting Malpractice: 3 Ways to Prove the Medical Treatment You Received Was Subpar
In a medical malpractice case, the hard work is on the plaintiff and his or her attorney. Yet these are some of the most important types of cases out there. If you received subpar treatment from a physician or a hospital, you need to ensure that no one else gets this same treatment or worse.
Before you file a lawsuit against a medical professional, you must speak to an attorney to learn what medical malpractice really is. If your legal advisor believes you have a case, you can work together to fight this malpractice.
With these three ways, you can prove that the medical treatment you received was harmful to you and below the standard of care that is expected of a competent medical practitioner.
- Prove that you had a doctor-patient relationship.
This is almost always the easiest step in fighting your malpractice case. In order for there to have been harm to you by the defendant, you had to have had a relationship of this nature to begin with.
You must prove that you hired the doctor, and the doctor took you on as a patient. Records from their office showing you were treated, hospital records with them as the physician attending, and other documentation of that nature are easy sources of this information.
If a physician diagnosed you on the street and told you to take a medication that you had a reaction to, that is not sufficient for a malpractice lawsuit. They must be your officially treating doctor.
- Prove that your medical physician did not provide you with the proper standard of care.
This is where it gets a little tougher. You and your attorney will need to show that another doctor would have treated you reasonably differently with common testing or treatment and prevented the harm that came to you.
Your physician is not liable for everything that happens to you during your treatment. In order for it to fall in the realm of medical malpractice, negligence must be proved.
- Prove that the negligence of the physician resulted in harm to you, the patient.
The negligence of your doctor may have resulted in things that annoyed you, or that you thought he or she could have done better. This is not malpractice. However, if that same negligence resulted in injury to you that had damaging consequences, and you can prove this, then you have a solid case.
You must be able to correlate the negligence directly to your injury. Sometimes this is hard to do because you were already sick when you began treatment. You and your attorney need to prove that you suffered damages as a result of your treatment.
Damages are broken up in two categories. “Special damages” are those that can be seen, like medical expenses, lost wages, or ongoing costs for further medical treatment. “General damages” are more of an emotional nature, such as your physical pain, the trauma you went through, and a continued loss of enjoyment in life due to your injuries.
With Your Attorney, You Can Win Your Case
If you know that these three ways for you to win are clearly pointed out in your situation, call an attorney today to help you fight for your rightful compensation.