Doctors are expected to deliver a certain level of high-quality healthcare. Sometimes, however, healthcare professionals can fail to provide the proper quality treatment you were expecting, whether it was negligence or a careless mistake.
When a healthcare professional makes an error that results in injury, you may need help from an experienced medical malpractice attorney when filing a West Palm Beach medical malpractice claim.
How Does West Palm Beach Define Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice can be regarded as the failure to do something a healthcare provider should do or doing something that a healthcare provider should not do. It can be defined as a healthcare provider acting unreasonably and carelessly.
Healthcare professionals are people too and make mistakes. But a mistake or error is elevated to medical malpractice when the healthcare provider or doctor violates the well-established standard of care for the community. These factors are often considered when filing a West Palm Beach medical malpractice claim.
Elements of Medical Malpractice
The elements of medical malpractice in West Palm Beach are the healthcare provider or doctor acts negligently and the negligence causes injury. Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor, or health care professional causes an injury to a patient because of a negligent act or omission and there is a violation of the standard of care. When a person is injured due to negligence and their injury resulted in significant damages, that is the core of medical malpractice.
Some of the most common forms of medical malpractice in West Palm Beach are a failure to diagnose cancer, failure to treat life-threatening conditions, administering the wrong drugs, and failure to properly deliver babies, resulting in serious injuries to the child.
Process of Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim
The first step in the process of filing a medical malpractice claim is to have experts review the medical records. They must sign an affidavit verifying that the healthcare professional or the doctor was negligent, and that the negligence caused injury.
The lawyer then prepares a letter to the prospective defendant, saying that they believe the individual has a valid claim. This step, which is known as a notice of intent, starts the 90-day period during which the lawyer cannot file a lawsuit. At the end of that 90-day period, they can file the lawsuit.
When filing a West Palm Beach medical malpractice claim, presenting the facts of the case, establishing why a healthcare professional was negligent and how that negligence caused injury is paramount. For a medical malpractice claim to be viable in court, the person must have solid proof that somebody was negligent and the negligence was a legal cause of significant injury.
Importance of Hiring an Attorney for Medical Malpractice Claims
Hiring an attorney for medical malpractice cases is important since these cases can be complicated. The injuries that are the result of medical malpractice are so severe that most people cannot handle these type of issues on their own. The cost of moving forward with these cases is expensive and the amount of knowledge that is required to take on these very powerful defendants is extensive. A person may need an attorney with real experience in this area.
An attorney may be able to investigate the claim, hire the appropriate experts, and evaluate the claim. When there is a claim, the attorney can finance the case against the other side and pursue the case to justice when a wrong was done.
If you or a loved one needs help sorting through the difficulty of filing a West Palm Beach medical malpractice claim, you should contact a medical malpractice lawyer.
Speak to a member of our team today.