A medical malpractice case is the same as any other personal injury action in that you need to prove negligence to become eligible for financial compensation. In this context, negligence is the same as in every other case: Someone else failed to exercise adequate care under the circumstances, and it caused you an injury.
The question is how you prove that someone committed medical malpractice. These cases can be challenging, and you need an attorney to put you in a solid legal position.
Remember that you cannot expect doctors to be perfect or hold them to a standard equal to the top doctors in the profession. Sometimes, bad results happen, and it is not necessarily anyone’s fault. However, they must act as a reasonable doctor of ordinary training would have under the circumstances.
Proving medical negligence is a complex process that requires experience and legal understanding. If medical negligence injures you, consult a medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible.
An experienced medical malpractice attorney will guide you through the legal process and gather the necessary evidence to support your case. They know how to assess when medical negligence occurred and how to prove it.
You Need Other Ways to Prove Negligence Besides Direct Testimony
In any personal injury case, you need evidence that shows what happened to cause your injury. If you have suffered an injury in an accident, your case is different from a medical negligence case because you may have eyewitnesses and physical evidence that allows you to prove your case.
However, in the context of medical negligence, the doctor and other medical professionals are now defendants. Thus, you need more evidence to prove that the medical professional was negligent.
Proving your case will begin with you getting your hands on your medical records. The records should have treatment notes that describe what the doctor did under the circumstances.
These documents are your property since they represent your health and your medical plan. Unfortunately, doctors or hospitals can make it difficult to obtain medical records, but your lawyer can get them on your behalf if you need help.
Your Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Work With Expert Witnesses
The primary way that a medical malpractice attorney can prove medical negligence is by recreating what happened and showing what a reasonable doctor would have done under the circumstances.
Then, they will compare that with what your doctor did to show that the defendant was negligent. Unfortunately, negligence can be challenging to prove, mainly because nobody else was around to see what happened.
Your attorney will have access to medical experts who can evaluate your case and provide opinions on whether there was a breached standard of care. Your medical malpractice lawyer will work with expert witnesses to prove that the doctor did something wrong, and some medical experts regularly testify in malpractice cases.
They will analyze what the doctor did and explain why it fell short of expectations under the circumstances. The expert will give their opinion of what a reasonable doctor should have done.
The defendant will also have expert witnesses testifying on their behalf. Their experts will attempt to explain why the defendant was not negligent in your case. Essentially, your case comes down to a battle of the experts, and the hope is that your expert witness is more persuasive than the one that the defendant uses.
Your Attorney Will Also Build Your Case Through the Discovery Process
In addition, your attorney will gain access to the defendant’s witnesses during the trial. The most crucial part of the litigation process is discovery. Your attorney will request documents and send interrogatories to the other side, and they must describe what happened in their own words in response to your lawyer’s questions.
The most essential part of discovery is the depositions. Your attorney will speak to the doctor and anyone else who saw what happened. For example, if the negligence occurred during a surgical procedure, your attorney can depose nurses and anyone else who was there.
The doctor must answer questions under oath for up to seven hours. After asking a long question about what occurred, your medical malpractice lawyer will get their testimony on the record. The doctor cannot testify at trial in a manner inconsistent with what they said in their deposition.
During this time, the defendant’s attorney will have access to you and your witnesses. They may try to weaken your expert witness and question their credibility. In addition, the defendant’s lawyer may also depose you, and you will relay what you saw and experienced.
At the close of discovery, you and the defendant will better understand where each of your respective cases stand. If your attorney can gather sound evidence showing the doctor was negligent, it can put you in a stronger legal position.
The defendant may realize that they have a considerable amount of legal risk and may need to be more aggressive about settling the case, knowing that an angry jury can make things far worse for them at trial.
You May Need to Prove Your Case in Front of a Jury
If your case does not settle, you will go to trial. Then, your expert witnesses will be invaluable to your case because you need them to prove medical negligence. The jury will hear from your experts directly. In addition, your attorney can cross-examine the doctor and witnesses who testify for the defense.
Of course, you must overcome a jury’s natural tendency to give a doctor automatic credibility. People are under the impression that doctors will always make the right choices and juries might be inclined to believe what medical professionals say. However, your medical malpractice attorney can still prove negligence if they have aggressively built your case.
Medical negligence cases are challenging and require a medical malpractice attorney with experience in this area of law. By hiring an attorney, you gain access to their knowledge, experience, and resources, which can significantly increase your chances of successfully proving your case.
Do not hesitate to seek legal help if you believe you have been a victim of medical negligence – a McLean personal injury lawyer will be your most valuable ally in pursuing justice and securing the compensation you deserve.