Do I Have a Medical Malpractice Case? And How Do I Prove it in Court?
As attorneys that represent patients injured due to complications caused by various acts or omissions by doctors, nurses and hospitals, we are often challenged to prove to juries what the health care provider was required to do to provide reasonable care - and what he or she did or did not do that caused an injury or death. This is commonly referred to as proving the "standard of care" and showing how the healthcare provider deviated or failed to comply with that standard of care.
Oftentimes, there is no written standard that applies across the board to all situations and the standard of care must be established through expert testimony by a physician or nurse with corresponding testimony as to exactly how the defendant doctor failed to comply with the standard of care. This is then followed by the requirement of testimony as to whether the defendant doctor or nurse, by not complying with the standard of care caused an injury that otherwise would likely not have occurred. This last element is known in the medical-legal field as "causation."
We know all too well how difficult it is for a doctor or hospital to say, "I'm sorry I made a mistake." We know that doctors do not intend to cause harm to their patients but when they make a mistake and cause injury they frequently refuse to admit their fault. As a professional, it is often difficult to admit that you made a mistake.
Educating Patients About Medical Malpractice Claims
We take our jobs seriously at the Mishkind Law Firm. We also know that not all bad outcomes are due to medical negligence. Simply put, some bad outcomes occur even when everything was done in accordance with the standard of care. As experienced medical negligence attorneys handling these types of claims throughout Ohio, we carefully and seriously screen and investigate all cases before even considering pursuing a lawsuit. When appropriate, we readily advise patients that they do not have a case. By educating a patient why he or she does not have a case we serve an important civic and public purpose that provides answers to patients that the medical field refuses to provide.
On the other hand, when the event that caused significant injury or death was due to a deviation in the standard of care, doctors, hospitals and insurance companies know that we will not leave any stone unturned to prove that the medical professional or health care provider was negligent.
Our Mission: Standing Up For Injured Patients
If we do not stand up for injured patients, mistakes made by doctors are destined to occur over and over again. Unless there is a mechanism that a negligent party recognizes will result in financial consequences, then there is less incentive to make changes so that an adverse outcome does not repeat itself. We view our mission as protecting all patients so that doctors and hospitals know that they must follow the rules of safe medical practice and can't cut corners or ignore their patients because there are consequences for making dangerous medical decisions. Anyone can be the victim of a medical mistake, so it is important to make sure that there are serious enough consequences to help serve as deterrents to preventable medical mistakes.
Holding medical professionals responsible for medical negligence is a complicated and costly process - for that reason very few attorneys devote the time or resources on a full-time basis to medical malpractice litigation we do at Mishkind Law Firm Co., L.P.A. We are trial attorneys who are privileged and blessed to be able to stand up for families that have had their lives fractured and changed forever due to avoidable and preventable medical mistakes by doctors and hospitals who refuse to accept responsibility for their actions. We understand medicine and the medical practice, and are not afraid to uncover the truth so that preventable adverse outcomes that destroy lives are not ignored.
Resources for Determining Acceptable Standards of Care
We offer the following link to www.medmalrx.com, an extremely exhaustive list of standards or "guidelines" that have been compiled by others as a reference point for patients and attorneys to help navigate through the complex area of medical malpractice and to understand whether the bad outcome that occurred was potentially due to a deviation from accepted standards of care.
We would be happy to help you or your clients, if you are an attorney, to determine if there is a case and whether it is in the injured party's best interest to litigate.
