There are several different types of medical malpractice, such as a misdiagnosis or a surgical error. Regardless of the type of incident, the same basic steps are followed in proving a claim. These steps involve complex issues that are best handled by DeKalb medical malpractice lawyers.
Proving the Doctor/Patient Relationship
The first step is to establish that you had a relationship with the doctor you’re accusing of medical malpractice. If you overhear medical advice that a doctor is giving to someone else and follow that advise yourself, that doctor cannot be held liable for anything that happens to you. Your attorney will have to use your medical records and other documents to establish your direct relationship with the doctor.
Showing the Doctor’s Negligence
Proving negligence in a medical malpractice case is different from proving negligence in other types of injury cases. Here, the best way to establish negligence is to show that the doctor provided a substandard level of care. This involves getting other doctors to testify that the care you received wasn’t the same level of care any doctor would have given under similar circumstances.
Connecting the Negligence to Damages
Your DeKalb medical malpractice lawyers will also have to show that your doctor’s negligence resulted in damages that can be measured in financial terms. For example, if a cancerous tumor was misdiagnosed as heart disease, the time it took to correct that diagnosis may have prevented the patient’s full recovery. In that case, the individual’s loss of life can be measured by the income they would have earned for the remainder of their lives, the costs of treating the wrong condition, and their pain and suffering.
You can learn more about medical malpractice claims by contacting Fisk & Monteleone Ltd. via their website at https://www.yourrockfordlawyers.com/.
