What Is the Standard of Care in Medical Malpractice Cases?
When a doctor or another health care professional treats a patient, they are expected to provide the level of care that a skilled provider would reasonably deliver in the same situation to keep a patient safe and healthy. Broadly speaking, this is known as the standard of care.
If they do not provide the level of treatment that’s expected and the patient is injured, that can be considered a deviation from the standard of care and the basis for a medical malpractice case.
If you believe you or a loved one suffered harm because a medical practitioner violated the standard of care, talk to the New Orleans medical malpractice lawyers at The Bowling Law Firm. Our attorneys have extensive experience establishing the standards doctors should have followed for legal claims.
You may pursue a claim against a doctor, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, surgeon, hospital, or any other health care professional who you believe violated the standard of care for the medical issues you had and caused harm.
Building a medical malpractice lawsuit is difficult. Before you can file a lawsuit in Mississippi, you must satisfy pre-filing requirements. You need to work with a lawyer who understands what constitutes a valid claim and when you could have a case.
Medical malpractice lawyer David Bowling and The Bowling Law Firm have been helping people in Louisiana and Mississippi for more than 40 years.
We assist with all kinds of medical malpractice cases where a standard of care could be breached, including:
- Emergency care
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
- Medical accidents
- Pharmacy errors
- Surgical errors
- Birth injuries
- Radiation treatment
You won’t be charged a monthly retainer or upfront fee when you need our help with your malpractice case.
The initial consultation with an attorney is free, and you only pay costs or fees if you recover damages.
Best Lawyers in America recognized our firm as a Tier One Medical Malpractice Firm. David Bowling and Katie Sepcich Drummond are individually recognized by Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers. Brady Williamson is also recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers. David Bowling is an associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates (recognizing his extensive jury trial experience). David is also a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, which only accepts 1% of Louisiana attorneys. The firm carries Martindale-Hubbell’s highest AV-Preeminent rating for ability and ethics. The standard of care is a concept particular to medical malpractice cases, and our attorneys apply it in medical claims every day.
How Does the Standard of Care Matter in Medical Malpractice in Louisiana & Mississippi?
The meaning of the standard of care is central to every medical malpractice case.
When you need to hold a medical professional accountable for their negligence, your case needs to establish four elements:
Duty of care: You must show that a doctor-patient relationship existed. This doctor, nurse, or physician assistant had an obligation to act in your best interests. They owed it to you to apply a certain standard of care.
Breach of duty: This health care professional who owed you a duty of care acted negligently or made a mistake. They did not act in a way that a reasonably prudent medical professional in similar circumstances would have acted.
Causation: It’s not enough to simply identify that someone didn’t follow the standard of care. You also need to show that the mistake caused you injury or harm. Whether we’re talking about a surgical error, a misdiagnosis, or a pharmacy error that results in a harmful type or dosage of medication, you need to meet the burden of proving that this breach resulted in real harm.
Damages: This injury resulted in damages, such as additional medical costs, lost income, and pain and suffering.
A medical professional who doesn’t adhere to the standard of care is not doing right by their patient, and they should be held responsible when they cause harm.
It’s important to remember that the standard of care hinges on what a reasonably careful medical provider would do.
A doctor who ignores the obvious signs of appendicitis and causes a patient additional harm by delaying treatment would be violating the standard of care because treating the disease early would have been the reasonable course of action.
But medical malpractice cases are not strictly outcome-based, meaning that a bad result from a medical procedure doesn’t necessarily mean that malpractice occurred.
If you were properly informed of the dangers of a surgery that carries risks even in the best of circumstances, and you suffered an injury, that might not be malpractice.
If you were hurt during surgery because a doctor didn’t take proper care and precautions, violating the standard of care, then you may have a medical malpractice legal claim.
The Bowling Law Firm’s Louisiana medical malpractice attorneys can take the time to learn more about your situation, and help you determine whether the standard of care was breached and whether you have a potential medical malpractice case.
Evidence for Your Mississippi or Louisiana Medical Malpractice Case
Even if you think that it’s obvious that a doctor, nurse, or other health care provider violated the standard of care, a malpractice case requires evidence other than your opinion.
A medical practitioner may claim they did everything they could to help you. If you had a bad outcome, they may say it was due to your disease or the injury you suffered, not to the actions or inaction of a health care provider.
Backing up your claim with as much objective evidence as possible is a necessity.
Items that can help include:
- Results of tests like X-rays, blood work, and MRIs
- Medical records relating to your diagnosis
- Records of hospitalizations, surgeries, and other procedures
- Discharge reports
- A list of prescriptions you take to treat your condition
- Effects of your prescription medications
- Evidence of missed work or lost income
- Statements from loved ones, coworkers, and anyone else who has seen how a medical or pharmacy error has affected you
- Testimony from expert medical witnesses
The more evidence you can gather, the better, but holding a health care professional accountable for their actions and recovering compensation is still challenging.
Talk to a Louisiana medical malpractice lawyer who has experience helping many people in similar situations.
The attorneys of The Bowling Law Firm have had their skill and knowledge highlighted by organizations like Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, and the American College of Trial Lawyers. Lawyers from other firms frequently ask our attorneys to assist with these kinds of cases.
Whether you were misdiagnosed, prescribed the wrong medication, or injured during a procedure, the medical malpractice attorneys of The Bowling Law Firm want to help you seek justice.
How a Louisiana Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help
The New Orleans medical malpractice lawyers at The Bowling Law Firm can help you identify important evidence for your claim and determine if a medical professional breached the standard of care, but the team at The Bowling Law Firm can also do much more.
We can help you:
Make your case to the Medical Review Panel: Louisiana has a unique requirement for medical malpractice claims. Before going through the normal legal process for a personal injury lawsuit, most claimants will first need to take their case to a panel of health care professionals who offer their opinion.
The panel’s position is non-binding, but having the panel conclude your evidence isn’t strong enough can affect your case.
Mississippi claimants do not have to prepare for a medical review panel, but they do need to notify a health care professional in writing that they plan to pursue a medical malpractice claim against them and meet other state requirements.
Whether you are located in Mississippi or Louisiana, The Bowling Law Firm can help you learn more about state laws and how they could affect your claim.
Connect with expert witnesses who can strengthen your case: An expert medical witness can help you establish what a medical professional did wrong and how they violated the standard of care. An expert vocational witness could help you show how your injuries will affect your ability to work and support your family, helping you make the case for economic damages like lost wages and loss of earning potential. The Bowling Law Firm works extensively with such experts.
Pursuing compensation after a medical professional has breached the standard of care and caused you harm is difficult.
If you think that you have a malpractice claim, The Bowling Law Firm can investigate what the standard of care should have been, whether the medical professionals who treated you followed it, and whether you may be able to recover compensation.
