What Evidence Is Required For Your Medical Malpractice Suit?

It can be very difficult to provide the evidence that is required for a medical malpractice lawsuit; therefore, it is important to know exactly what you need to show in order to be successful.

Many people have heard of medical malpractice but are not aware of the complexities associated with litigating a malpractice claim. First and foremost, what is medical malpractice?

A medical malpractice claim is a tort action that is taken by a patient who is a victim of negligent behavior at the hands of their physician or medical provider. The claim is a lawsuit based on a medical care provider’s breach of the requisite standard of care, which caused the victim to sustain some form of injury.

When bringing a medical malpractice claim, there are some primary elements of your claim that you will have to prove in order to be successful. The evidence you provide has to support four key evidentiary elements: the existence of a doctor-patient relationship, doctor negligence, cause and effect (i.e. your doctor actually caused the injury) and injury-specific damages.

Doctor-Patient Relationship

Your first batch of evidence has to show that there was a doctor-patient relationship between you and the medical professional that treated you. Simply put, you have to prove that you hired a doctor and that the doctor provided medical care to you in his or her capacity as a doctor.

This is easily shown by simply being under the care of a licensed doctor in a hospital or medical care facility. The lines tend to get blurred, however, when doctors are working as a consulting physician of some kind.

Doctor Negligence

You must show that the doctor was negligent in your diagnosis or treatment. This means that the doctor did not utilize the requisite standard of care that is required by other doctors in his or her field and location. You must provide evidence that shows that the doctor caused you harm in such a way that a competent doctor exercising reasonably skillful and careful practices would not.

There are many ways to show how your doctor was negligent. Pertinent evidence could consist of information concerning your initial diagnosis and when it was given, what treatments were recommended and performed by your doctor, what were the outcomes of your treatments, etc.

Cause and Effect

The doctor’s negligence has to be the cause of your injury. In order to avoid cases where patients attempt to file a medical malpractice suit for an injury that they may have received prior to receiving any medical treatment, you have to produce evidence to show that the doctor’s treatment or diagnosis was the actual cause of the injury.

You must show that that it is “more likely than not” that the doctor’s negligence directly caused the injury. This can be done primarily by obtaining the testimony of a medical expert to testify that your doctor’s negligence caused the injury and deviated from the reasonably skillful and careful standard of care.

Injury-specific Damages

The injury that you sustained as a result from your doctor’s negligence has to produce some kind of damage. You cannot sue for malpractice if you did not suffer some kind of harm as a result of the conduct of your physician or medical provider. This harm can take the form of physical pain, mental or emotional pain, mental anguish, medical bills, loss of ability to work or the loss of earning capacity.

Fitting the evidence presented in your case in a concise and accurate manner can be difficult. Guaranteeing you meet the four evidentiary elements requires the skill of an experienced medical malpractice lawyer. Campbell & Associates specializes in personal injury law and medical malpractice and is equipped with an experienced legal team with decades of experience to help individuals just like you get the help and representation they deserve.

Contact Campbell & Associates today for a free consultation. Gives us a call at (704) 333-0885.