Justia Legal Guides: Medical Malpractice Law Center

When people go to the doctor, they expect to get better rather than worse. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Justia provides a Medical Malpractice Law Center to help inform patients about their legal options.

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According to a famous study by Johns Hopkins University, medical malpractice was the third-most common cause of death in the U.S. as of 2016, behind heart disease and cancer. Although the exact number of deaths cannot be quantified, research suggests that negligence by doctors and healthcare providers claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

In some extreme cases, malpractice goes beyond simple carelessness. Twelve years ago this month, Michael Jackson’s former doctor was convicted of involuntary manslaughter involving the death of the “King of Pop.” Jackson had died suddenly at the age of just 50 soon after Dr. Conrad Murray became his personal physician. Murray had addressed the singer’s insomnia by supplying him with propofol, a powerful drug often used as an anesthetic in hospitals. After an inquiry revealed that Jackson died from acute propofol intoxication, prosecutors argued that Murray left his celebrity patient unattended after providing him with a large dose of the drug. The disgraced doctor spent about two years in prison.

While medical malpractice generally does not lead to criminal charges, it can result in a lawsuit against a healthcare provider. The Medical Malpractice Law Center in the Justia Legal Guides describes many of the forms that malpractice can take. It also discusses what patients need to prove to establish the liability of a doctor or another medical professional. These cases tend to involve greater complexities than ordinary personal injury cases. For example, a victim or their family may need to hire an expert witness or file additional documents with their lawsuit.

How Malpractice Happens

Some types of malpractice can occur during the diagnostic process, such as when a doctor diagnoses a patient with the wrong condition. The patient then might get the wrong treatment, which could make their condition worse. Or a doctor might fail to diagnose a condition as promptly as they should have. This could cause a patient to go without treatment as their condition develops, potentially worsening their prognosis.

Nobody looks forward to going under the knife, partly because surgical errors remain a well-known risk. These errors may include operating on the wrong body part, leaving a surgical instrument inside a patient’s body, or making a mistake while providing anesthesia. In other situations, malpractice may occur when a doctor does not check a patient’s medical history before a procedure or does not properly follow up after a procedure to address any complications that may arise.

Doctors also may be held liable for medication errors, such as when they prescribe the wrong pharmaceutical or the wrong dose to a patient. Or a malpractice lawsuit might arise when a doctor does not provide a patient with proper warnings about a medication, or when they fail to account for a documented allergy. Sometimes, though, a medication error involves a mistake by a pharmacist in filling or dispensing the medication, and they may be held liable as well.

Proving a Malpractice Claim

Not every mistake warrants a malpractice lawsuit. The law does not require perfection from healthcare providers, but only competence. In other words, a doctor needs to do what a competent doctor in their field would do when treating a similar patient. To get compensation, a patient or family bringing a medical malpractice claim must prove the applicable standard of care in the situation, show that the doctor fell short of that standard, and explain how the error caused the injuries.

In some extreme cases, such as when a surgeon operates on the wrong body part, anyone can tell that the doctor did not meet the appropriate standard of care. More often, though, a judge or jury will not have the medical knowledge to decide whether a healthcare provider should be liable. A plaintiff then will need to hire a qualified expert witness to help prove the elements of their claim. Moreover, some (but not all) states require a plaintiff to provide an affidavit of merit when they file their lawsuit or shortly afterward. This document usually affirms that an expert has reviewed the case and believes that malpractice occurred. Failing to provide an affidavit of merit as required may lead to the dismissal of a case.

A medical malpractice defendant also may get a case dismissed if the plaintiff failed to file within the applicable statute of limitations. This defines the time period for bringing a lawsuit. Sometimes medical malpractice cases have a different statute of limitations than ordinary personal injury cases. Since the harm may not be immediately obvious, moreover, a provision called the “discovery rule” may take effect. This often provides that the time for bringing a lawsuit does not start to run until the patient discovers the injury, or reasonably should discover it. Separate deadlines also may apply to children injured by medical malpractice.

50-State Survey on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Medical malpractice laws and procedural rules vary considerably across the states. Thus, Justia has compiled a 50-state survey to assist patients in each state. The survey discusses topics such as the elements of a claim, affidavits of merit, and statutes of limitations and the discovery rule. It also includes links to relevant statutes and case law, which are provided for free by Justia. This allows potential plaintiffs and others to research the law more thoroughly

In addition, the 50-state survey on medical malpractice lawsuits discusses damages caps, which some states have imposed in these cases as part of tort reform. These may limit the total amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover, but often they apply only to non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering and emotional distress. Some damages caps may contain complicated nuances or exceptions. The survey aims to capture these to the extent possible.

Final Thoughts

Patients have a right to expect competent treatment from their healthcare providers. As various studies have shown, though, this does not happen as regularly as one might hope. Someone who thinks that they may have experienced an incident of medical malpractice, or suspects that they have lost a loved one to an avoidable error, should consult a medical malpractice lawyer about their specific situation. In the meantime, the Medical Malpractice Law Center provides an overview of these claims and the key issues that patients may face. Like the other Justia Legal Guides, it aims to make the law transparent and accessible to all.

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