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Have you received poor medical treatment, a lack of treatment or treatment that did not meet accepted standards of medical care? Misdiagnosis, improper medical treatment, delay in treatment, prescription errors? You may have a Medical Malpractice claim. Save time in finding the right Pittsburgh Medical Malpractice Lawyer, we've already done the work for you! You should consult an Attorney soon after you believe that you have received improper care to ensure that your legal interests are protected. If you sign any documents before consulting with a Lawyer, you may be signing away your rights to fair and just compensation. Legal representation is essential if you have been injured by a physician, and the sooner you obtain legal counsel, the better. That Attorney can protect your rights, and advise you as to the proper course of action. Our featured Medical Malpractice Lawyer is listed below.
Medical malpractice
occurs when a health care provider, who by an action or omission,
deviates from the accepted norms of practice in medicine leading to
injury/ death to a patient.
Many deaths occur due to medical malpractice. A health care provider
is not just the doctor or the surgeon but includes nurses, dentists,
therapists, hospitals, clinics etc. Medical malpractice law is
derived from the general negligence law.
Various laws have evolved in the US, England, Australia and other
countries, which are similar in concept for control of medical
malpractice.
Claims are made for negligence, misdiagnosis, improper medication
etc. Claims can even be made where informed consent of the patient
is taken. Claims can also be made against corporations, hospitals,
clinics for the mistake of their employees based on vicarious
liability. The patient has the right to claim economic and
non-economic damages.
However in medical malpractice cases, the burden of proof lies with
the plaintiff (patient). Hence the patient should hire a good
lawyer. Three things have to be proved by the plaintiff:
• The health care provider failed to provide adequate and reasonable
care to the patient.
• This failure to provide adequate care to the patient has resulted
in damage or loss to the patient.
• The health care provider is liable to pay the damages or loss.
The damages are of two types, compensatory and punitive.
Compensatory damages are of two types economic and non-economic
damages.
Economic damages are monetary losses like, medical care, medicines
and loss of wages.
These damages can be in the past or future. Non-economic damages are
the ones like loss of organ or vision, pain, disfigurement,
embarrassment emotional stress etc. Punitive damages are very rarely
awarded.
Medical malpractice cases are complicated because when the patient
is admitted he is already injured or ill and hence the damage caused
by negligent medical care has to be assessed independently of the
earlier illness or injury.
A further obstacle in medical malpractice case is that expert
witness is to be provided by the plaintiff. Very few doctors are
willing to testify against another doctor even when the case of
negligent care is clear.
On the other hand the defendant lawyers have a pool of doctors to
defend the case of negligent medical care. Usually medical
malpractice attorney firms provide expert testimony on the care
provided by the health care provider. Some medical malpractice
lawyer firms provide free case evaluation and take medical
malpractice cases on contingent basis that is until the firm wins
the case for the client, the client need not pay for the services of
the lawyers.
In medical malpractice cases it is vital to obtain the medical
records as early as possible by the patient or his representative.
Most healthcare providers take medical malpractice insurance. There
has been an ongoing debate by doctors and their medical malpractice
insurance companies against excessive jury awards. Generally
insurance companies rarely go to trial where large penalties are
involved. However it must be remembered that the insurance companies
and health care providers are willing to fight it out against
spurious medical malpractice claims. The procedure for filing a
medical malpractice claim varies from state to state.
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