A medical malpractice case often stems from serious injuries caused by medical negligence or medical error on behalf of a medical professional. Birth injuries, unnecessary surgery, failure to diagnose, and wrongful death are among the different types of medical malpractice that can be eligible for a lawsuit. If you believe you might be a victim of medical malpractice, it’s important to understand the necessary steps to evaluate and execute your case.
1. Collect Your Medical Records
In order to determine whether you’re a victim of medical malpractice, you must have access to your medical records. Your records are essential in identifying your health care provider’s negligence—your attorney will be able to assess these records with a medical expert to analyze any medical errors. Depending on the injury in question, medical records can range from X-Rays and arthroscopy photos to simple notes taken by the doctor during a physical. Any type of record that can help establish your claim and display a medical error will be useful to provide a medical malpractice attorney. It’s a good idea to collect these records as soon as possible, as your lawyer will want to analyze these records before proceeding with the medical malpractice claim.
2. Consult a Medical Malpractice Lawyer
It’s important to seek legal advice from a medical malpractice attorney as soon as you believe you have suffered any serious injuries as a result of medical malpractice—doing so will allow you to bring your claim within the statute of limitations. If you miss the appropriate time period to file your claim and fail to satisfy the statute of limitations, you will, unfortunately, be incapable of bringing a medical malpractice case. However, if you do bring your claim to an attorney within the appropriate time frame, you will need to discuss your medical history and injuries with your attorney in order to establish your case.
Medical malpractice lawyers will analyze your personal medical records as well as the career of the medical professional in question. The attorney will consult their own medical expert in order to determine whether the injured party has actually been the victim of medical malpractice. If you are in New Mexico and are looking to file a medical malpractice claim against your health care provider, you should contact the New Mexico medical malpractice attorneys at the Davis Kelin Law Firm. This law firm consists of attorneys with years of experience in personal injury and medical malpractice, making them a reliable and successful firm—you can visit their website for a free consultation. If you’re not in the New Mexico area and are unsure where to seek an attorney, you can check out the church bulletins at your church for contact information for local attorneys.
3. Establish the Elements of Negligence
In order to bring a lawsuit for medical negligence, your case must be able to establish the elements of negligence. Your medical malpractice attorney will assess your medical records and discuss the treatment you received from your health care provider to help determine whether your claim satisfies the necessary elements.
The required elements of negligence in a medical malpractice case are duty, breach of duty, causation, and harm. You must first prove that you were owed a duty by your medical professional—this element is typically easy to establish as health care providers always have a duty to provide a patient with care. Once the first element has been established, you must be able to prove that your physician breached their duty by failing to provide you with the care you expected. A breach of duty can be established through medical negligence or medical error, as it is necessary for a medical professional to provide patients with proper and cautious care.
The final two elements of causation and harm are established if the injured party can prove that their injury was a direct result of the medical professional’s negligence. By demonstrating that medical negligence was in fact that cause of any harm that they suffered, the injured party will likely be successful in establishing the elements required for a medical malpractice claim.
