What Is the Standard of Care In Medical Malpractice Cases?

Because most of us are not physicians, we have to place our trust in a doctor when we are sick or injured, turning ourselves over to their care and expecting that they will treat our health, safety, and lives as valuable. Unfortunately, medical providers sometimes make mistakes, act negligently, or overlook symptoms.

When a medical provider’s mistake causes an adverse outcome to a patient, it’s medical malpractice.

Proving medical malpractice against the doctor, medical provider, or medical facility that acted negligently and caused you harm requires substantial evidence showing that the at-fault provider breached the standard of care in your case. Contact our medical malpractice attorney in Chicago if this is the case for you.

What Standard of Care Applies to Doctors and Medical Providers?

Proving that a doctor’s error or oversight constitutes medical malpractice requires that the evidence in the case support the following legal tenets applying to a breach of the medical community’s standard of care:

• A doctor/patient relationship was in place at the time the malpractice occurred
• The doctor or other medical provider had a legal duty of care to the patient
• They breached this duty by failing to provide care at the standard accepted as appropriate by the medical community
• The breach of duty caused injury to the patient
• The injury victim suffered economic and non-economic damages from the malpractice

Medical malpractice can cause serious harm, including permanent injuries, worsened medical condition, increased morbidity, decreased life expectancy, or wrongful death.

Understanding the Standard of Care In Medical Malpractice Compared to Typical Personal Injury Cases

Medical malpractice is a category of personal injury law. In personal injury cases, the burden of evidence lies with the injury victim, who must prove the other party’s liability through a preponderance of the evidence. This means they must demonstrate that it’s more likely than not that the defendant’s actions caused their injury and damages.

In most personal injury cases, such as car accidents and slip-and-fall injuries, the evidence must show that the at-fault party breached the general duty of care that requires them to take reasonable measures to avoid causing harm to others.

For medical malpractice, a doctor’s duty of care goes beyond the general duty. A medical provider has a duty to treat the patient at the level of care accepted by the medical community as the standard of care.

Proving That a Medical Provider Breached Their Duty of Care

A successful medical malpractice case must provide compelling evidence that the doctor, medical provider, or facility failed to meet the standard of care. The evidence must demonstrate the following:

• A doctor/patient relationship was in place at the time the malpractice occurred
• The doctor (or medical provider) owed a duty of care to treat the patient at the standard of care accepted by the medical community
• They breached their duty of care
• The breach of duty directly caused injury
• The injury victim suffered damages from the injury

Damages in medical malpractice cases include economic damages, like medical costs, future medical expenses, lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering. In some cases, additional compensation is available to catastrophic injury victims, for example, one who lost a limb, one of the senses, or an organ, or who experienced disfigurement, diminished quality of life, or lowered life expectancy.

If a medical malpractice case ends in a patient’s death, their family can recover compensation through a medical malpractice, wrongful-death claim.

Wrongful death claims in medical malpractice cases also rely on evidence that a medical provider violated their legal duty of care to the decedent.

What Are the Most Common Types of Medical Malpractice?

When a doctor fails to provide treatment at the level of care accepted by the medical community, it can result in serious harm or death. The most common types of medical malpractice include the following:

• Medication mistakes
• Misdiagnosis
• Missed diagnosis
• Delayed diagnosis
• Anesthesia errors
• Surgical errors, including wrong-patient, wrong-side, and wrong-site surgeries, and surgical implements left inside body cavities
• Failure to obtain informed consent
• Failure to provide adequate post-surgical monitoring
• Premature post-surgical discharge
• Lack of adequate patient discharge instructions

Patients typically do not possess the medical knowledge of physicians, so we must place our trust in our medical providers. Patients have a right to ex

How Can an Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawyer Help Me?

Medical malpractice law firms have access to renowned medical experts who interpret medical data to pinpoint the at-fault provider’s action that deviated from the accepted standard of care. They then carefully calculate the past, current, and future impacts of the medical malpractice to maximize the compensation available to the injured person or their surviving family members.

Call or contact Smith LaCien LLP to learn more about your right to compensation if you or a loved one experienced medical malpractice. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer has access to medical experts and other resources to support your case. Contact Smith LaCien LLP for skilled representation in your Illinois medical malpractice case.