Surgeons, doctors, and other medical professionals have an incredibly important job. A single mistake can lead to a patient’s severe injury or even the patient’s death. Medical malpractice claims against negligent medical professionals can serve two important purposes: holding the negligent medical professional accountable for the patient’s harm and recovering financial compensation for the patient or the patient’s surviving loved one. To win a medical malpractice claim, medical malpractice lawyers often utilize testimony from expert witnesses.

Demonstrating the Defendant’s Breach of Duty

Medical malpractice may involve failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, medication mistakes, surgical errors, birth injuries, and a range of other issues. However, most medical malpractice claims come down to four main questions:

• Did a doctor-patient relationship exist?
• Did the medical professional breach the medical standard of care?
• Is the patient’s injury or death a result of the breach of care?
• Did the patient or the patient’s surviving family suffer damages or financial losses due to the injury or death?

The “medical standard of care” is the type of care that a reasonably skilled medical professional in the same field would have provided under similar circumstances. Many medical malpractice claims involve complicated medical issues and medical decision-making that is hard for a lay person to understand. Medical experts are often used to provide insight about whether the defendant’s conduct breached the medical standard of care. For example, an expert in the field of birth injuries may offer his or her opinion about whether an obstetrician should have performed an emergency Cesarean delivery (C-section) or not. The expert may also speak to the cause of the patient’s injury or death and whether the defendant’s actions directly contributed to the injury or death. A medical expert may offer opinions based on his or her own medical experience and knowledge. The expert may also point to industry standards and information in academic publications.

Parents' most important job is to protect their children and this responsibility begins at the conception of their child. For pregnant mothers, this can include taking prenatal vitamins, attending required doctor appointments, and following the dietary guidelines given to them by their health provider to keep their baby healthy and safe, even before birth. As is true throughout the child’s life, there are some matters that are out of the parents’ hands—and this battle begins before the child is born. According to the Birth Injury Justice Center, seven out of every 1,000 children will suffer from a birth injury. Some of these injuries may be minor, while others can bring on a lifetime of medical bills, doctor visits, and various other struggles that the child must endure. Depending on the circumstances, medical malpractice may have caused your child’s birth injury. 

Getting to the Root of the Problem

There are a number of reasons why a child may suffer from a birth injury. There may be natural causes, genetic dispositions, or medical mistakes that contributed to the child’s injuries. Before a parent can take legal action in defense of their child, it is important to pinpoint the possible causes of the injuries. One of the uncontrollable causes of birth injuries is the size of the child. Babies weighing over eight pounds or those born before the 37-week mark who are fragile and underweight have a higher risk of suffering from a birth injury. Prolonged labor can also lead to such injuries. The mother’s health is a key factor in her child’s well-being. If the mom has been exposed to toxins throughout the pregnancy or if she is severely overweight, it is not uncommon for birth injuries to result.

If you believe you have suffered in some way due to the negligence of a medical professional, you might want to consider filing a medical malpractice claim. While these cases might be complex, especially depending on which types of accusations are being levied, the actual elements of a medical malpractice claim—the parties, the proof, and the process—are relatively straightforward. Below is a brief summary of each component.

The Parties

The parties involved in a medical practice claim and the terms used to describe these parties are as follows: