When Bad Medical Care Harms You

Medical malpractice is a part of personal injury law in this country. In cases of personal injury, you generally allege that you have been harmed by the negligence of another person. Your lawyer is your best guide in any particular case, but here are some general questions and answers on medical malpractice.

What is medical malpractice?

Medical Malpractice occurs when your doctor gives you medical care that does not meet the standard of care that other doctors would have given you in the same or similar situation and you suffer an injury as a result.

How does medical malpractice work?

In a civil case such as medical malpractice, you, the patient, would bring a lawsuit against a doctor. If a jury finds that the doctor acted negligently and you were injured as a result of that act, the doctor (or the doctor's insurance company) will have to pay you an amount that is determined by either the jury or the judge to compensate you for your injury.

How would a jury decide if my doctor committed malpractice?

A jury will compare your doctor's conduct with how other doctors would have acted if faced with the same or similar circumstances. The doctor is not compared to a person in the general population. Instead, the doctor is compared to other doctors with the same type of medical training and skills.

For example, if you are a 30-year-old woman who runs marathons and you tell your doctor you have chest pains, the actions your general practitioner doctor takes will be compared with what other general practitioners would have done if a 30-year-old female marathon runner came in complaining of chest pains.

What kinds of damages are available in a medical malpractice suit?

Compensatory damages pay you a sum of money designed to make up for the money you've lost or spent because of the injury-cost of treatment, lost wages, etc.-and, in some cases, compensating you for pain and suffering. Some medical mistakes may have catastrophic consequences, crippling a patient for life. The costs of permanent care for a person totally paralyzed in an operating room blunder, for example, could be staggering.

Punitive damages are assessed when a doctor not only makes a mistake, but also acts so recklessly or carelessly toward you that a jury may decide to punish the doctor. Punitive damages are damages above and beyond the amount of money it will take to compensate you for your injury.

So if my doctor makes a mistake, I can sue for malpractice?

It is not automatically malpractice when your doctor gives you medical care and something bad happens. As long as your doctor uses reasonable care and skill in treating you, your doctor did not commit malpractice. Five doctors can examine and diagnose the same person and come up with five different opinions as to what medical care is needed. That does not mean that four of the doctors are wrong or incompetent. It means that there are many ways to treat that person. The key is that all doctors acted according to acceptable medical standards and treated you as a reasonable doctor would have treated you.

How do I prove malpractice?

First, you will need to prove that your doctor had a duty to you. This means you must have a doctor-patient relationship. Then you will have to establish for a jury that the medical profession itself has a standard of care for your illness or injury. In other words, that doctors are supposed to treat your type of medical condition in a certain way. After that you will need to show that you suffered an injury and that the injury was a result of the doctor's failure to give you appropriate medical care.

What will happen the first time I meet with my attorney?

The attorney will ask you questions about what happened and take a look at your medical records. Your attorney should be able to tell you whether your claim is worth pursuing.

Does the patient's conduct play a part in malpractice cases?

Yes. The court will look at your actions to determine whether you played a part in your own injury.

How could I possibly play a part in my own injury?

Let's pretend that you are a 30-year-old marathon runner complaining of chest pains. The doctor tells you that it probably is not a heart attack considering your age and activity, but that you should stop running for the next few days while the doctor runs some tests. You leave the doctor's office, drive to the gym and run five miles before dropping to the floor with a heart attack. Even if you could prove that other doctors would have diagnosed you as having a heart attack when you first walked into the doctor's office, the fact that you ignored your doctor's warning will be taken into account when a jury is deciding a malpractice case.

What if I did not know what I was doing would contribute to my injury?

That is a factor that will be considered by the court. Just as the doctor must act reasonably, so must you. If a reasonable person would have taken the doctor's advice and not run five miles, then it was unreasonable for you to ignore the doctor's advice.