Liability in Terre Haute Medical Malpractice Claims

When you are under the care of a medical professional, you rely on them to take care of you, as they have training and experience to diagnose illnesses and injuries and provide the appropriate treatment. Unfortunately, sometimes that trust is unwarranted. A doctor may not use their training and experience to develop the appropriate solutions for a given circumstance. In these instances, a seasoned medical malpractice attorney can examine your case to see if it was malpractice.

Understanding liability in Terre Haute medical malpractice claims is essential. It is not enough to have a condition that was not resolved successfully by a medical provider’s care. Instead, you must establish crucial medical malpractice elements to pursue damages. Let our tenacious attorneys help you explore the circumstances of your case and advise you about potential remedies.

Understanding the Duty of Care

The duty of care refers to a medical provider’s professional obligation to provide care that meets the applicable standards for their profession based on a patient-provider relationship. All medical care providers have differing duties of care based on their specialties, and without a patient-provider relationship, the provider has no duty to the patient. For example, if a patient tries to make an appointment with a highly sought-after doctor but is delayed by months, the patient does not seek a medical provider. In that case, the doctor will not be liable for malpractice for failure to diagnose since they do not have a relationship, but a Terre Haute attorney can examine the facts of a case to see if there may be a claim.

Understanding the Breach of Duty of Care

The duty of care means that the provider must use the acceptable standard of care and follow the same steps as a reasonable healthcare provider in similar circumstances. Failure to do so is a breach of duty of care, and they could be held liable for medical malpractice with the help of a Terre Haute attorney. Examples can be misdiagnosis, prescribing the wrong medication, operating on the wrong body part, or using treatments that are proven ineffective.

In some scenarios, the duty of care is easy to understand, and the breach is easy to prove. However, the more complex the scenario, the more difficult it can be to determine whether there was a breach of duty. Reasonable doctors may disagree about the course of treatment in complicated scenarios, while they may be more likely to agree in simple scenarios.

Role of Causation

It is not enough to prove duty and breach of duty. Doctors may breach their duty without causing any harm to the patient. In fact, these breaches may be relatively common and are often undetected because there was no harm. For instance, the doctor may prescribe a medication that is incompatible with other medications the patient is using. The pharmacist may notice this conflict and contact the doctor to change the prescription. While the prescription may have been a breach of the duty of care, it did not lead to any problems, so there is no causation.

In contrast, a doctor mistakenly operating on the wrong body part does cause an injury. To prove causation and liability, the patient has to establish with the help of a Terre Haute attorney that the injury was the result of malpractice.

Available Damages

Showing that there is an injury is not enough because the injury has to lead to damages. The damages can be economic, noneconomic, or punitive. Economic damages would include medical expenses for remediation treatment, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity. Noneconomic damages are for intangible injuries with no direct dollar value, such as pain, suffering, or emotional trauma. Punitive damages punish the provider for outrageous behavior, usually intentional behavior that knowingly violates care standards.

Talk to an Attorney About Liability in Terre Haute Medical Malpractice Claims

Trusting a medical professional after malpractice can be challenging. However, you need an experienced attorney’s help to establish liability in Terre Haute medical malpractice claims so you can receive just compensation for the harm you sustained.

Please schedule a consultation with our attorneys at Fleschner, Stark, Tanoos & Newlin to learn more about your available legal options.