How To Tell If You Have a Medical Malpractice Claim

You usually have a medical malpractice claim when you suffer from an injury due to a healthcare provider’s negligence or when the doctor deviates from acceptable health care standards to treat you. Just being injured while under a doctor’s care doesn’t always mean you have a medical malpractice claim.

This can cause confusion in many people. Usually, a Sandusky medical malpractice lawyer should be able to determine if you have such a claim over your healthcare provider. But as part of a civil lawsuit, you have to prove that you are entitled to compensation. In other words, you are going to have to provide evidence which is not always easy without professional help from a medical malpractice lawyer.

If you’re not sure whether you are entitled to a medical malpractice claim, read on and you may learn a thing or two about medical malpractice claims.

The Doctor Must Have Treated You Themselves

The medical malpractice claim is only possible if you were treated by the doctor who diagnosed you in the first place. As a plaintiff, you must construct a doctor-patient relationship which is only possible if the doctor who diagnosed you also performed a procedure on you. For example, there are times when doctors diagnose you but you undergo a medical procedure by another doctor. If this is how you ended up being injured, then you may not have a medical malpractice claim.

Negligence of the Doctor

As a plaintiff, you will need to provide evidence that a injury to your body was caused by the negligence of the doctor. In cases where a procedure carries certain risks, and the doctor warns you beforehand of a possible injury, then you may not have a claim. But if the doctor’s negligence is evident, for example, he or she may have left a surgical tool in your body during a surgical procedure and forgot to pull it out, then it becomes their negligence.

Negligence can also be proven by showing the court that the healthcare provider moved beyond certain standards of healthcare. Since healthcare standards are different from state to state, you may need the help of a Sandusky medical malpractice lawyer to determine if your doctor indeed moved beyond the standards to provide health care to you.

You Must Be Able to Prove Damages

If you somehow received further injuries from a procedure, you may have a claim against the doctor as long as you can prove that their negligence caused you further injury/damage. Since the injury caused by the doctor will have additional expenses to med, you may have a claim against them and you may be compensated for the treatment cost that occurred for mending the damage to your body.

Medical malpractice claims are quite common but very few people know if they are eligible for compensation. This is why it is recommended that if you suspect you have a claim, always try and get in touch with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer in Sandusky to confirm your suspicions. When hiring a lawyer, make sure you don’t make these 5 common mistakes.