Medical Malpractice
The term "malpractice" means professional negligence. "Medical malpractice" is the negligence of a health care provider, hospital, clinic or pharmacy. Medical malpractice is not the same as a bad outcome. Surgery and medications are risky, diagnosing an illness is complex and childbirth can be complicated. Sometimes things go wrong even with the best of care.
In order for a bad outcome to have been caused by medical malpractice, the health care provider must have failed to "act in accordance with accepted medical practice." Just proving you had a bad result from a medical treatment or procedure is not sufficient; some bad results can occur even when your doctor was not negligent. Sometimes there are “known risks” that are unavoidable with certain surgeries, treatments or medication. Further, even proving a departure from the standard of care is not enough! You must then prove that the mistake or error “proximately caused” the injury or damage to you. For example, your doctor may have departed from a reasonable standard of care in not diagnosing properly your fractured wrist. Maybe he completely overlooked the fracture. But what if he had properly diagnosed it? Would your wrist be any better now? If a proper diagnosis would not have lead to a better result, then there is no “causation” between your doctor’s negligence and your injury. In other words, “no harm, no foul”. A good medical malpractice lawyer knows how to analyze carefully the “elements” (what you have to prove) of a medical malpractice case. He or she also knows how to present these elements to a jury.
Emouna & Mikhail, P.C., handles medical malpractice cases occurring in hospitals and surgical centers, medical malpractice committed in clinics and doctors' offices, pharmaceutical malpractice and malpractice and abuse that occurs in nursing homes. We accept cases involving doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, pharmacists, radiologists and other medical professionals. We also bring cases against hospitals.
Medical malpractice claims do not settle easily out of court due to the fact that their malpractice carriers need their consent prior to settling a case. Therefore, more than with any other type of case, your attorney must be prepared to try your case. Yet statistically, medical malpractice claims are among the most difficult claims to win at trial. Most of them are lost. Your best chance at settling, or if you can not settle, winning at trial, is with an experienced medical malpractice trial attorney whose reputation might induce a favorable settlement or, that failing, whose trial skills and medical knowledge will tip the scales in your favor at trial. |
