| Malpractice FAQ |
|
| |
| | TOP OF PAGE | |
| Q: |
What is Medical Malpractice?
|
| A: |
Medical malpractice is the legal term used when a doctor, nurse, or other health care professional deviates from an accepted standard of care and directly causes harm to the patient. |
| |
| | TOP OF PAGE | |
| Q: |
What is a deviation from an accepted standard of practice? |
| A: |
Doctors and nurses are not expected or required to be perfect or infallible as medicine is not an exact science. There may be poor results from medical treatment even without malpractice. But medical professionals are expected to have the basic knowledge and skills normally possessed and used by the average medical professional in their area of practice. This basic knowledge and skill is called a standard of practice, or standard of care. When a medical professional treats a patient and fails to use this basic knowledge and skill, whether the failure consists of doing something incorrectly, or failing to do something that should be done, that failure is a deviation from the standard of practice or care. |
| |
| | TOP OF PAGE | |
| Q: |
How does someone prove malpractice? |
| A: |
The standard of practice or care can only be proven by an expert; in other words, by another medical professional in the same area of practice testifying as to what the standard is, and further testifying that the doctor or nurse treating the patient failed to practice according to the standard. Such an expert witness must be paid for the time spent reviewing and evaluating the case, and for the time spent in testifying as to their opinions. |
| |
| | TOP OF PAGE | |
| Q: |
Is proving a deviation enough to prove a malpractice? |
| A: |
No. The deviation alone is not enough, but must directly cause harm to the patient. If a doctor or nurse commits malpractice, but nothing happens to the patient as a result, there is no malpractice case. The deviation must directly lead to harm in the form of a bad result or an extended period of pain or a worsening of the patient's condition. |
| |
| | TOP OF PAGE | |
| Q: |
Will a doctor testify against another doctor? |
| A: |
Local doctors may not. We have found, however, that there are doctors willing to testify that another doctor has deviated from the standard of practice if, after review of the medical records and facts, that doctor comes to the candid conclusion that malpractice has occurred and caused harm to a patient. |
| |
| | TOP OF PAGE | |
| Q: |
How much is a medical malpractice case worth? |
| A: |
Every case is different, and every case will have a different value based on a variety of factors too numerous to mention. Like medicine, the law is not exact, and putting a dollar value on pain and suffering is not possible based on any mathematical formula. A lawyer can recommend a possible dollar value range for a case only after all of the medical and other facts are determined and analyzed in accord with the lawyer's knowledge and experience. |
| |
