Causation: Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Proving that Negligence Caused the Injury
 A
medical professional may have been negligent in providing
care to a patient, but sometimes that negligence is not
the cause of the injury suffered by a patient. Because the
law requires a connection between fault and injury, not
all instances of medical malpractice justify an award of
damages. Determining causation in medical malpractice cases
often is very complicated and usually requires the assistance
of expert witnesses as well as an experienced medical malpractice
attorney.
Expert witnesses are usually required in medical malpractice
cases:
- to establish the prevailing standard of medical care
in the geographical area or the area of specialty
- to establish that the medical professional's negligence
(failure to meet the applicable standard of care) caused
the patient's injuries
In rare instances, expert testimony may not be necessary
to establish a claim because the negligence of the medical
professional is obvious to lay persons without the need
for any special testimony. For example, a patient who undergoes
the amputation of the wrong leg need not call an expert
witness to establish that malpractice has occurred. Another
example is where a medical professional violates a civil
or criminal statute. Sometimes it is sufficient just to
prove that the statute was violated, and that the violation
caused the patient's injuries.
The increasing complexity of medical treatment means that
a patient may be treated by a long list of doctors, nurses,
and medical technicians in the course of treatment. Determining
which of these practitioners may have been negligent, and
how that negligence may have caused a patient's injury,
can be extremely complex. For example, one doctor may have
incorrectly diagnosed a patient, but a subsequent doctor
may have been negligent as well in failing to correct the
diagnosis. Or a series of mishaps in an operating room,
each by a different technician, may mean that more than
one technician is liable for malpractice because each mishap
contributed to the injury. Additionally, the injury may
have been caused by the use of a defective medical device
or drug. In those cases, the law of product liability becomes
relevant in determining causation. To help you with issues
such as these in Tampa, Clark & Martino has expert product
liability and medical malpractice attorneys.
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