There are several laws in Washington and other states that aim to provide compensation for citizens who are intentionally or non-intentionally injured by others. These statutes are put into place because injuries are oftentimes expensive to recover from. They can also be very disruptive to an individual’s livelihood. Hence, someone has to step and take care of the expenses of the aggrieved party.
Personal injury cases are among the most frequently tackled cases in U.S. courts. Car crashes and other accidents are among the most common subjects of such personal injury litigations. There are also cases that involve medical malpractice. In this article, we look at the points that a medical malpractice claim must clearly establish so that it can stand up in court.
Table of Contents
Negligence can lead to injury
Medical professionals from all over the country follow somewhat uniform standards of care. Patients who come to them for healing have the expectation that these standards are going to be observed. However, there are times when doctors or nurses, due to neglect, fail to live up to one or more standards. They could forget to ask for allergy information before administering medications that contain allergens, or they may forget to thoroughly check a patient’s existing record before making a recommendation. Such instances are really important, because even the slightest mistake can result in grave injuries or even death.
Establish a connection between neglect and the injury
It is not enough to prove that there was negligence on the part of the attending medical professional. There are many forms of neglect that do not have serious outcomes. For a medical malpractice claim to hold its ground, it must be established upon filing of the case that the patient has a serious injury and that this injury wouldn’t have been incurred had the attending medical professionals followed set standards.
Establishing the connection between neglect and injury requires a good deal of effective argumentation. This is where competent lawyers such as those from The Tinker Law Firm can be of great help.
The injury is serious enough to have adverse effects on the patient’s life
Injuries that arise from a form of neglect must have serious and costly outcomes so that the pursuit of a medical malpractice makes practical sense. Medical malpractice litigation can be quite costly, as it requires the testimonies of a number of medical professionals whose time in court must be paid for by the litigant. If the projected recovery amount isn’t more than the projected costs, then it’s better to just settle conflicts extrajudicially. However, if the patient is much more concerned with getting justice than getting compensated, then they can push through regardless of the projected costs and rewards in the end.
Patients whose conditions worsened and patients who incurred new injuries because of medical malpractice deserve compensation. However, courts only favor those who can present facts that the courts can verify. Patients who plan to take their cases to court must be prepared to work with reliable attorneys so that they can come up with good arguments that can stand cross examination and close scrutiny.
