Types Of Medical Malpractice: What Constitutes Negligence?

When you go to the doctor, you expect them to do everything in their power to help you recover from what ails you. Unfortunately, doctors can sometimes fail to provide the best standard of care. If you feel like you were owed better care than you received, then you might consider filing a negligence case. 

What Is Medical Negligence?

The law uses a standard to establish what qualifies as negligence, which can basically be described as when a doctor provides care that falls below what a competent doctor would do in the same situation. This standard works in this way: If you go to the doctor and don't get better, or your condition gets worse, the law will ask, did the doctor do everything that a competent doctor would do? If the answer is yes, then you don't have a case for negligence. If the answer is no, then you may have a negligence case.

Further Considerations

The law will also look at how serious your suffering was to decide if your case is valid. For example, if a doctor misdiagnoses a case of strep, and you had a sore throat and general malaise for a week or two more than you would have if you had received care right away, the law will likely look at this as a trivial case. On the other hand, if a doctor does not inform you that a certain procedure could lead to the loss of a limb, and you lose your limb, you have a negligence case.

Proving Malpractice

In that legal experts are not medical experts, the testimony of an expert witness can be critical in a medical negligence case. Basically, you or a lawyer will take the facts of your case to an unbiased medical professional with a reputation for providing quality care. This professional will then review the facts of your case and offer an opinion on whether the care provided by your doctor was up to standard and whether your injuries resulted from the doctor's breach of care. 

Pursuing a negligence case—or any case—through to the end can be an expensive and difficult process. If you think you have a good case, you should hire a lawyer to help you prepare the case. Because the lawyer is trained and experienced in how to prepare and present cases, your chances of receiving a favorable outcome increase by bringing a doctor onboard. After all, if the case is worth bringing, it is worth winning. For more information, contact a medical negligence attorney like Attorney Carole A Gardiner.