What is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a hospital, doctor or other health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, causes an injury to a patient. The negligence might be the result of errors in diagnosis, treatment, aftercare or health management.

Does Your Case Meet the Criteria for Medical Malpractice?

Before you decide to sue your doctor for medical malpractice, you should consider whether or not you have the criteria that meets a medical malpractice claim. Not every bad outcome that a patient experiences is a result of medical malpractice. Bad outcomes are often caused by recognized complications that are not considered malpractice. You should speak with your attorney to decide if you have a case.

Was Treatment Unsuccessful?

Oftentimes people choose to sue for medical malpractice if they are not satisfied with the results of their treatment. Poor treatment, even death, does not always equate to malpractice. Also, keep in mind that there is always a risk factor when seeking treatment.

Claim Requirements

To prove that medical malpractice occurred you must be able to show:

  1. Doctor-patient relationship. You must prove that you hired a medical professional to provide treatment.
  2. The doctor was negligent. You must be able to show that the doctor caused harm.
  3. The injury resulted in specific damages.
  4. Failure to diagnose, improper treatment or failure to warn the patient of known risks.

We Can Help

Medical malpractice law is highly regulated by complex rules, which vary from state to state. If you’ve suffered a devastating personal injury as a result of a medical professional’s error, you should speak to our medical malpractice attorneys immediately. Our results with medical malpractice cases speak for themselves.  Our attorneys have procured hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of the injured patients we have represented. Please call 1-800-THE-FIRM today for a free consultation or visit us at The Cochran Firm's national website.