Things to Know About Medical Malpractice Cases

When you’re dealing with medical professionals, you should be able to expect a high level of care from them. After all, their job is to take care of you and help ensure you are at your healthiest. Unfortunately, some doctors or nurses are negligent and can cause problems instead of help solve them. In cases of medical malpractice, it is usually beneficial to the victim to hire a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago to help fight the case. However, simply hiring a lawyer doesn’t mean you’re sure to win the case. There are a few important things to know about malpractice cases, in order to boost your chances for a successful case. Proving the Doctor-Patient Relationship The first step in filing a claim about malpractice is having the documentation to prove that there was a doctor-patient relationship between you (or the victim/plaintiff) and the medical professional who is being accused of malpractice. For example, if you go to a party and a doctor gives you advice, you can’t file malpractice against them. However, if you went to a doctor and received care from them directly, then it is easy to prove to a Chicago medical malpractice attorney that there was a doctor-patient relationship. It can become tricky when you are accusing a consulting physician of malpractice-someone who treated you, though perhaps indirectly. Proving Negligence and That Negligence Caused Injury The next step is being able to prove that the medical professional was negligent in their care and that the negligence was what caused your injury. A Chicago medical malpractice attorney will ask for plenty of detail regarding your case. A case that attempts to accuse a doctor’s actions for a cancer patient’s death will likely fail-there are too many factors that could have also caused the person’s death, namely the cancer itself. However, if, for example, a doctor suspects a person has cancer but doesn’t proceed with adequate testing, recommendations, or treatment, that can be considered malpractice. Likewise, the negligence has to have caused the injury. For instance, if a doctor fails to note on a chart which part of the body is to be operated on and then performs a surgical operation on the wrong site of the body, that doctor may be held accountable for negligent malpractice. In this instance, it’s in your best interest to hire a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago for help. Proving Damages Finally, there has to be a way to prove that there were damages in order for a case to be successful. As with the incorrect-surgical-operation example, if someone has the wrong limb amputated after a doctor fails to verify which limb should be amputated, the damage is easy to prove-the patient/victim now doesn’t have that limb. A medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago will need to know what the damage caused is before filing a claim or lawsuit against a doctor or other medical professional. Summary If you’re considering hiring a Chicago medical malpractice attorney, it’s important to have a lot of details and data surrounding your situation gathered and ready. The more information you can provide to a malpractice lawyer, the better your chances are of presenting a successful case against the professional accused of malpractice. You’ll need to be able to show that there was a doctor-patient relationship, that negligence is what caused your injury, and that there are damages related to the injury and negligence. If you’re thinking about retaining the services of a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago, it is helpful to gather as much of this information as possible.