Most people expect that a visit to a medical facility or a surgery will leave them in better, not worse, health. Medical incidents can happen to the best of facilities and doctors and patients who have been harmed may need to take legal action. Read on and learn a bit more about the meeting the guidelines for a claim.
Doctor-Patient Relationship
The doctor-patient relationship exists when you meet the doctor, are examined by them, consult with them, are treated, etc. That is only the beginning, however. Almost everyone has experienced the puzzlement that might come from seeing a medical bill that contains an unfamiliar practitioner's name. How can you have a relationship with a doctor that you barely remember seeing during a surgery? In most cases, the care of any number of specialists that are there at the behest of your primary surgeon carries the same doctor-patient relationship as that of your primary doctor.
Medical facilities carry a similar expectation of care, regardless of what nurse or care technician is caring for you. You can sue both a doctor and a medical facility or one or the other. When you are provided with substandard care from an employee of a facility, the responsibility lies with the facility itself. Knowing who to file suit against is just one of many complicated medical malpractice issues. At the other end of the spectrum is when no doctor-patient relationship exists. For example, you might discuss a medical problem with a seatmate on a flight or watch a television show where doctors are giving advice to patients.
Direct Cause
You must be able to show that the harm that occurred was a direct result of negligence on the doctor's or the facility's part. An unbroken and strong link must exist between the allegations of harm done and the actions of the defendant. For example, patients that enter a hospital with several conditions may suffer from a deterioration in health but the cause might be a preexisting condition and not a result of more actions.
Standards of Care
Medical procedures dictate a great deal of what goes on when patients seek care. These are known as standards of care. To be successful, a medical malpractice claim needs to show that the standards of care for a particular action were not followed. You might not agree with the actions of a doctor, but if they followed the accepted standard of care you won't have a malpractice claim.
To say that medical malpractice cases are complicated is an understatement. Speak to a lawyer that offers personal injury attorney services surrounding medical malpractice law to find out more.
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