Is It Hard to Win a Medical Malpractice Case?

Although many doctors help many people every day, doctors do make mistakes while caring for patients. If this happened to you, you may be wondering, is it hard to win a medical malpractice case? It can be difficult to win this type of case, as malpractice insurance lawyers work hard to defend their clients. However, if your medical malpractice lawyer presents enough facts in your favor, in a compelling way, you can win a malpractice lawsuit.

Medical Malpractice Cases Can Be Complex

To enhance your chances of winning a medical malpractice suit, you have to be able to show that three different things occurred.

Relationship

You first need to be able to prove that you and the doctor had a relationship, meaning the doctor was caring for you as a patient. This seems like a simple step, but it is one that attorneys for the malpractice insurance company may challenge. Perhaps they will claim the time between the treatment provided and the injury suffered was such that the patient was no longer under the doctor’s care. Or that the patient was under the care of a number of doctors and the particular doctor, while he or she may have consulted with the patient, should not be considered to have been treating the patient, let alone having caused the injury. These are only two of many potential examples where the doctor’s insurance company and defense lawyers will argue that no doctor-patient relationship existed.

Standard of Care

In a malpractice suit, you are saying that the doctor or other medical professional made a mistake in treating you. To prove this to the court, you have to be able to show that the treatment that the doctor provided was not consistent with the generally accepted standard of care, or what another doctor would have chosen to do in similar circumstances.

If other doctors would have made the same choice as your doctor, even though that choice caused you additional harm, the court is not going to find there was medical malpractice.

Cause for Injury

As the final step, you must show that the non-traditional standard of care that your doctor chose to perform was what caused your excess injury or illness.

In other words, if the doctor’s non-traditional choice in the standard of care did not cause your extra injuries, you will not be able to win your lawsuit.

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The Difficulties of Proving Fault in Medical Malpractice Cases

Medical malpractice lawsuits can be difficult to win in large part because of the complexity of the subject that is being discussed in the lawsuit.

Doctors have years and years of training to understand medical terminology, illnesses, and medications. Like most people, you, as well as potential jurors, may not have a full understanding of the steps the doctor took, which means it can be difficult to understand and explain just how the doctor made a negligent mistake in your care.

Challenges of Jury Trials

You will want to select an attorney who deals with medical malpractice lawsuits regularly, ensuring he or she can understand and explain all of the medical terms and procedures clearly, especially if you are involved in a jury trial. The attorney’s knowledge, communication skills, demeanor, and even personality, can all be extremely important factors to help jurors understand the case.

At the same time, the attorney must be able to convince jurors that the defendant made a significant error. This is a difficult concept for some jurors, who may hold doctors in high esteem. Jurors tend to emphasize the need for the plaintiff to show the burden of proof in a medical malpractice case more than they would in another kind of trial.

To counteract some of this natural trust of doctors, your attorney will need to find medical experts to serve as witnesses, who will explain how and why the doctor made a mistake.

Filing a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

There are a number of steps a plaintiff must follow to properly initiate a legitimate medical malpractice claim. Having an attorney who understands the state law for filing this type of lawsuit and who can advise you and fight for you every step of the way can make all the difference in the case outcome.

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Learn More by Contacting the Office of a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today

So is it hard to win a medical malpractice case? It certainly can be, but if you have the facts on your side, you and your attorney will have a better chance to win the settlement or judgment that you are entitled to.

The team at Friedman & Simon, L.L.P., is ready to begin working on your behalf as soon as you choose to hire us. We take pride in defending the rights of those who have suffered an injury at the hands of negligent medical personnel. If it is helpful to your situation, we have a multilingual staff.

For a free consultation, call us at (516) 932-0400 today. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means we do not accept payment for our services until the case reaches a satisfactory conclusion. Should the case go to trial, we will stand by your side in court too.

Call or text 516-932-0400 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form