Common Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

By:


Medical malpractice lawsuits are some of the most common personal injury lawsuits litigated in the modern American court system. Arguably, this is with very good reason. Patients seek out doctors and other medical and healthcare professionals because they are just that. Medical problems generally fall outside of the realm of what most people can handle on their own without professional assistance. It is easy to understand why the malfeasance or some other form of wrongdoing, which results in harm to a patient, would be the impetus for legal action on the part of the harmed party.

Medical malpractice lawsuits are, like all other variants of personal injury actions, governed by a body of law known as tort law. Tort law addresses all non-criminal wrongs that can befall an individual, be they intentional or not. Tort law sets out that all individuals have a duty of care to those around them. This means that everyone has an obligation to not harm anyone else, on purpose or accidentally. It goes without saying that this obligation extends to members of the medical profession as well.

In fact, physicians have their own special set of laws that apply only to them as they are professionals. A professional is held to a standard of conduct that is above that of an average person. They are obligated to make use of their knowledge and expertise. If they fail to and harm arises, then they have breached their duty to their patient. Moreover, the law distinguishes between the standard are applied to specialists and non-specialists. A non-specialist is held to a local community standard while a specialist is held to wider specialist standard, regardless of where they practice medicine.

So these basic legal tenets set the stage for a medical malpractice action. In order for there to be a case you need to have several basic elements. There must be a duty owed to the patient, a breach of that duty, the patient must suffer subsequent harm, and, finally, there must be some kind of causal relationship between the action of the breach of duty and harm suffered by the patient.

Broken down into more basic terms, it is clear to see how this relates to a real and tangible medical malpractice lawsuit. If a doctor is performing surgery on a patient and they breach their duty to be a competent surgeon and cause the patient harm that is the crux of medical malpractice. Ultimately, it does need to be a harm suffered as the result of a surgical procedure. A breach of duty can come from any kind of doctor-patient relationship in which the doctor fails to act reasonably be that treating cancer or just the common cold. While such litigation can arise from anything, statistically speaking the most common malpractice lawsuits stem from misdiagnosis, medication errors, birth injuries, surgical errors, and anesthesia errors.

About the Author:
Peter Wendt is a writer and researcher in Austin, TX with ties to Philadelphia. Malpractice lawyers are an interest of his and he recommends you check out a malpractice attorney, Philadelphia.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


Tags: , ,

|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent Legal Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Site Navigation:

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.