Medical malpractice results in hundreds of preventable personal injuries each year in the United States, including in Washington, D.C. If you have been injured by a medical professional during the course of treatment, you may be entitled to compensation. After seeking appropriate medical care, you should immediately contact a medical malpractice attorney to determine if you have a valid claim. Read on for a brief overview of a successful medical malpractice claim.
Breached Standard of Care
To have a strong medical malpractice claim, a doctor must have acted negligently because he failed to comport with the appropriate standard of care. The standard of care refers to the accepted methods of treatment applied by physicians to patients in similar circumstances with like conditions.
Proven Causation
Even after proving negligence, you and your medical malpractice lawyer need to prove that the doctor’s negligence injured you during your treatment. This is called causation. Any negligent act, whether a misdiagnosis, improperly administered treatment, incorrect treatment, or another medical error, must be the direct cause of your harm. Proving causation may sound simple, but it is a very difficult task that requires legal expertise and expert medical testimony supporting your theory.
Timely Filing
In order to file a medical malpractice claim, you must comply with the statute of limitations. Each state has a different rule for the window of time during which different sorts of legal claims must be filed. That means that even if you have a strong case for medical malpractice, your attorney will not be able to take the case to court unless you file the paperwork in a timely fashion. If you are not sure of your state’s time frame, consult with a medical malpractice lawyer. Otherwise, you could lose your right to pursue the claim at all.
