Professional malpractice is where a professional acts negligently or in a way that shows ineptitude when performing their duties. Their negligence has to cause damage for it to be malpractice. Medical malpractice takes place when your health care professional negligently causes you harm.
Harm can be caused by taking actions that include but are not limited to the following:
- wrong diagnosis
- poor aftercare
- unnecessary surgery
Until 2019, the Kentucky state had a medical claims panel that would review cases before they went to court.
The panel was struck down in favor of taking any medical malpractice claims to court. Having a Lexington medical malpractice lawyer will go a long way in solidifying your claim if you have undergone medical malpractice.
Your lawyer will advise you on the way forward and inform you of anything that you will need for your suit to be successful. Medical malpractice may be a bit difficult to prove without the right information and tools. Here are the ways you can prove medical malpractice.
Prove You Have a Professional Relationship
The first thing that a court requires from you is to prove that you have a professional relationship with the said healthcare professional. This may not be difficult to do as you have medical records and any bills from the said practitioner for when they treated you or performed any procedure. It is essential to keep these documents safe or in a folder for your Lexington medical malpractice lawyer to look at as they handle your case.
Provide Proof of Negligence
As with all civil claims, the burden of proof lies with the petitioner, you, in this case. Proving that a practitioner is negligent is not easy as there are often many complications where treatment is concerned.
However, you can consult another doctor who can appear as an expert witness in court. They can also sign an affidavit stating why they think your health practitioner was negligent.
There are cases where negligence is apparent such as if the hospital fails to seek your signed consent before performing a particular procedure on you, and it ends up causing you any damage. Other issues, such as not outlining the various options that you have during treatment such as cancer, can also be seen as omissions.
The court will also look at a concept that falls under tort law, which indicates that the practitioner has a duty of care. If they failed to give the standard of care, then they may be labeled as negligent. A good example would be if the practitioner was unable to bind up a wound after surgery; that would be a blatant disregard for the standards set in the medical profession.
Prove Their Actions Caused You Harm
In this stage, you have to relate the health practitioner’s actions to some damage or harm you have undergone. There must be a cause and reaction effect. If a doctor is performing stomach surgery, for instance, and they nicked your kidney, and as a result, you had to get a kidney transplant, then you would need to prove that they caused it. You must prove to the court that their actions were a direct cause of your injury or harm.
At this point, it is important to show any costs that you might have incurred trying to rectify the damage that they caused you. If you are suing on behalf of a loved one who passed away as a result of medical malpractice, it is vital to prove that the doctor’s actions led to that person’s death.
Having a Lexington medical malpractice lawyer at hand in a malpractice suit will help you navigate the murky waters within a lawsuit. It is important to consult before instigating a lawsuit to avoid mistakes that could cost you your claim.
However, you should note that Kentucky has a statute of limitations that sets the limit for filing a medical malpractice suit in one year. The only exception to the rule is finding out about the injury after the one year has passed. The court may give you leeway for that. It is essential to consult a lawyer as soon as possible.