Proving Negligence In A Medical Malpractice Case

How Do You Prove Negligence In Medical Malpractice? 

How do you sue a doctor? Can you build a strong case against them?

Proving negligence in medical malpractice can help you to file a strong lawsuit against a healthcare provider.

To do this, it’s critical to work with a medical negligence lawyer in Las Vegas to prove these four elements:

Duty Of Care

A physician must provide a patient with standard care that is expected of a reasonable doctor in a similar circumstance. This duty of care is established when a doctor agrees to treat a patient. Therefore, the doctor-patient relationship is usually assessed during medical malpractice cases to determine if the doctor owes the patient a duty of care.

Breach Of Duty

After proving the doctor owed you a duty of care, you need to show how they breached it (how they failed to offer you the accepted standards of care). For example, they didn’t diagnose you, provide adequate information about a procedure or treatment, refer you to a specialist, or follow up, etc.

Your medical records and witness statements can help you prove this element. For instance, medical records indicating a wrong medical condition can be used as evidence in a misdiagnosis case. A witness statement from a fellow patient detailing how an expectant mother was not monitored closely, leading to a birth injury, can be crucial when proving a breach of duty of care in the delivery room.

Other examples of evidence that can be used are video footage (you may request the hospital to provide footage of the incident, or the court can subpoena it) and expert testimony. 

Causation

A medical professional’s breach of duty of care should have directly caused a patient’s injury to warrant compensation. Therefore, proving causation in medical malpractice is necessary. 

You need evidence that links your injuries to the physician’s negligence. For example, if a doctor detects cancer-like symptoms, such as a persistent lump, unintended weight loss, unexplained pain, and so on, they should refer you to an oncologist for a diagnosis. If they fail to do so and you are eventually diagnosed with cancer at an advanced stage, your medical records and expert testimony can prove that the initial doctor not referring you caused the cancer, which could have been controlled, to spread.

If a hospital’s administrator fails to record your allergies and a physician administers a medication you are allergic to, the medical information the administrator forwarded to other departments that didn’t include your allergies, or at least accurately, can prove the link between their breach of duty and the injuries you sustained.

Damages 

Lastly, you need to prove the injury you sustained resulted in damages. These include economic and non-economic losses. Examples of economic damages are medical bills, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity. Non-economic losses include pain and suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and other damages that can’t be quantified.

Both economic and non-economic losses are considered when determining compensation in medical malpractice cases in Nevada.

What Should I Document After A Medical Malpractice Injury? 

If you sustain a medical malpractice injury, here is what you need to document:

• Medical records: Keep all your medical-related documents, including diagnostic records, notes, test results, information documented by the hospital administrator, pre-operative and post-operative records, and discharge notes.
• Medical bills: These include all medical expenses you incurred, from hospital bills to transportation to and from appointments.
• Witness statements: These are statements from eyewitnesses, such as a fellow patient, a visitor, or a healthcare professional who was present when the incident happened.
• Expert testimony: A testimony from someone with specialized knowledge, skill, training, or education who can establish that the physician or hospital failed to provide standard care.
• Photos and video: Take pictures and videos of your injuries immediately after the incident. 

Essentially, anything that can strengthen your medical malpractice case can be a reliable source of evidence.

How Do I Know If A Doctor Is At Fault?

Hospital vs. individual liability is a debatable subject in medical malpractice lawsuits. So, who is at fault? 

A hospital may be held liable for the mistakes of its employees, including healthcare professionals and other staff members. Additionally, a hospital may be responsible for a patient’s injury caused by its direct failure to offer standard care, such as poor hygiene, poor hiring practices, poor management, failure to maintain medical equipment, and so forth.

However, a significant percentage of doctors in medical facilities in Nevada are independent contractors. If such a doctor commits medical negligence, they may be solely held accountable for their action. Since they carry their own insurance policies, the hospital may not be involved in the case at all.

Nonetheless, there are instances in which a hospital may be held liable despite the doctor in question not being an employee. A medical negligence lawyer can help determine if your case constitutes such an instance.

Work With A Reliable Medical Malpractice Attorney In Nevada

Proving negligence to receive a fair settlement in a medical negligence lawsuit may be complicated. Fortunately, our Las Vegas medical malpractice lawyers can help you understand all the steps you need to take to protect your rights and be compensated justly.