On the whole, doctors and medical professionals usually get it right – they provide patients with high levels of care to make them better. However, this is not always the case. Doctors are human, which means they are prone to making errors and poor judgments.
A simple error is not enough to qualify as medical malpractice. As with all types of personal injury cases, negligence must be present. This means that four key elements must be satisfied as follows:
1. A duty of care must have been owed
The first step in medical malpractice claims is establishing whether or not a formal doctor/patient relationship existed. Typically, this is relatively easy to clarify as if a doctor attends to a patient in any way they usually owe that patient a duty of care. This means that the patient must be provided with a level of care deemed acceptable within the profession.
2. A dereliction of duty
If a doctor fails to provide a reasonable standard of care, this is called a dereliction of duty of care. This could be failing to make an accurate diagnosis, failing to provide suitable treatment, ignoring the patient or being abusive toward the patient.
3. Direct cause of injury
Whenever a doctor breaches their duty of care, a complaint can be made. However, this does not necessarily mean a personal injury complaint. If the doctor’s actions breached their duty of care but did not result in any injuries, then a personal injury claim is not possible.
4. Damages
Finally, for a medical malpractice claim to hold up, the patient must be able to show quantifiable damages. This could be physical injuries, emotional harm, increased medical bills, lost wages due to time off of work, loss of consortium and loss of enjoyment in life.
Medical malpractice claims can be tricky to navigate. That’s why it’s so important to seek qualified legal guidance.