Medical malpractice lawyer must screen cases for legal validity

One of the first tenets of medical malpractice in all jurisdictions, including in Louisiana, is that not all adverse results of a patient’s treatment can be considered medically deficient or sufficient to establish liability. There are several important and complex elements that must be established prior to concluding that medical malpractice occurred. Medical malpractice can only be established upon proof that the provider gave the patient less than the minimum required standard of care under the circumstances, i.e., that there was negligence.

In addition, proof must be submitted that the provider’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing the patient’s injury or death. Negligence is determined based on a standard quality of care that would be provided by a practitioner under the same circumstances. A person contemplating a claim should consult first with an experienced medical malpractice attorney. What appears to some persons to be a clear case of negligent medical treatment may not rise to that level in the eyes of the law.

The attorney is the main guide to putting together the medical malpractice case. A person who wishes to make a claim may find out from the attorney that what appears to be a strong case does not qualify due to a legal limitation. In addition, many people fail to add the necessary causation analysis to determine if the careless treatment actually caused the injury.

For example, even though a surgeon does not follow normal protocol and commits a surgical error during an operation, that error may have no impact in causing the disease syndrome or death for the patient. One who believes that he or she may be the victim of medical malpractice will be best served by first obtaining an evaluative consultation with a medical malpractice attorney. When the case has been successfully vetted and approved for making a monetary claim for damages pursuant to the rigours of Louisiana law, the plaintiff can go forward with a far greater degree of confidence in anticipating a positive outcome.

Source: healthaim.com, “Medical Malpractice: What Victims Must Know“, June 2, 2016