If you’ve experienced medical malpractice, then you’re going to need evidence to back up your claim. Working with a medical malpractice attorney in Baltimore is invaluable here, as they know what type of evidence you need and can help you acquire it.
How Can You Ensure Your Malpractice Cases Not Dismissed for a Lack of Evidence?
Work With a Medical Malpractice Attorney in Baltimore
The first step to ensuring your case isn’t dismissed for lack of evidence is working with the right lawyer. If you work with an experienced attorney who knows what evidence is required to strengthen your case, then you’re already on the right path. Check out this site to learn more about malpractice cases and get in contact with an attorney who can help.
Make Sure Your Attorney Knows Everything
You must provide your attorney with a detailed account of everything that happened so they can begin to piece together a timeline of events. Be sure to give them the names of any potential witnesses to the incident. Always be honest with your attorney, and never withhold information.
Gathering Evidence to Support the Basic Elements of a Malpractice Case
The four main elements of a malpractice case are a duty of care, a breach of that duty of care, harm or injury, and damages. To avoid the claim being dismissed, you need evidence relating to all four elements. Having evidence to support all of these elements should ensure your case isn’t dismissed for lack of evidence.
Duty of Care
You’ll need to prove that the physician you’re holding liable for malpractice had a duty of care. If you were under their care and you two had a doctor-patient relationship, then you shouldn’t have to worry about proving this.
Breach of Duty of Care
To show that the duty of care was breached, you and your attorney will have to demonstrate what the duty of care was. Your attorney will generally contact a medical expert to act as an expert witness. This medical expert will typically work in the same field as the doctor responsible for the malpractice. Their testimony will be used to define the standard of care and demonstrate exactly how your doctor breached it.
This expert should believe you suffered harm as a result of your doctor’s breach of duty of care. They’ll attempt to demonstrate how the breach of duty of care led to your injury. The expert should provide certification of merit, an expert report, and testimony at trial if necessary. They’ll also respond to the defence’s expert witness report. The certification of merit in particular demonstrates that your attorney believes your case has a good reason to be in court.
Harm or Injury
Your doctor’s breach of the duty of care must have caused you harm or an injury. You also need to prove that the breach of duty of care caused this harm/injury. As mentioned above, the medical expert witness will attempt to demonstrate this. There has to be more than a 50% likelihood that the breach of duty of care led to your harm/injuries, and the medical expert will try to prove that this was the case.
Your attorney will also gather any other evidence that may support your claim that you were injured due to a doctor’s medical malpractice. Eyewitness testimonies are generally also used here.
Damages
The harm you suffered as a result of medical malpractice must have resulted in damages. Without damages, you can’t be compensated for what you’ve been through.
If the injury caused by the malpractice required treatment, then your medical records and the bills for your treatment may work as evidence that you suffered damages. If you won’t be able to go back to work due to your injuries, then demonstrating your loss of income may work as evidence of damages. Other types of evidence may be used depending on the damages you suffered. Current and future damages will need to be calculated.
Types of Evidence That May Be Used During a Medical Malpractice Case
Many types of evidence may be used throughout your case. Apart from testimonies from a medical expert witness and eyewitnesses, your attorney may use visual evidence, such as scans showing your injuries. Your medical records will also be used to support your case. Witnesses such as economic experts may be contacted to help when calculating damages.
Your medical malpractice case shouldn’t be dismissed for lack of evidence if your attorney and their team can demonstrate that your doctor and a duty of care, the doctor breached this duty, this led to injuries, and you suffered damages as a result of your injuries. Getting as much evidence as possible will strengthen your case.
