There’s a certain amount of trust between a healthcare provider and a patient. You go to the doctor to feel better and the last thing you expect is to leave with an injury you didn’t have before going in. However, medical professionals can make mistakes and sometimes, it’s an honest mistake—other times, it may be grounds for an actual medical malpractice claim.
If you suffer an injury due to a healthcare professional’s negligence, then there are some essential steps for proving causation in medical malpractice claims. Not sure what causation means or how it can impact a medical malpractice claim, we’re taking a look at this and more.
What is Causation in a Medical Malpractice Claim?
Causation is a legal term establishing a direct link between the healthcare provider’s negligence and the injuries you experience. In simple terms you must show that the physician’s behavior or lack of action is the direct reason you suffered harm and the resulting after effects.
Your harm can be an injury, illness, or complication resulting from negligent care. To show causation, you need to prove the four key elements of negligence.
Key Elements of Negligence
All medical malpractice claims must show negligence before they can move forward through the legal process.
If you can’t prove negligence, you probably don’t have grounds to file a claim. This doesn’t mean you can’t try, only that there’s a good chance your claim is going to be dismissed. So what are the four components of negligence?
Duty of Care
The cornerstone of your medical negligence claim is showing the healthcare professional owes you a standard of care. In these types of personal injury claims, you typically refer to the medical standard of care. Similar to the Hippocratic oath, this standard requires healthcare providers to adhere to a level of care shown by reasonable medical professionals.
An example can be a reasonable physician who will take X-rays if you’re complaining about a potentially fractured bone. Skipping this step and telling you to stretch the injury out is probably violating the medical standard of care. Another example is leaving a sponge behind in a patient after surgery. A reasonable surgeon will ensure all foreign objects are removed before stitching the patient back up.
To meet this element of negligence, you must also establish a relationship between yourself and the healthcare professional. A doctor-patient relationship is an example of meeting this standard. In other words, you probably can prove a duty of care if you receive bad medical advice from a doctor waiting in line with you at the grocery store.
Breach of Duty
You’ve established that the healthcare professional owes you a duty of care. You can show there’s a relationship and you have an expectation of receiving a reasonable standard of care. Now, you need to show this duty is breached.
A breach of duty can include a wide range of mistakes like an improper diagnosis, incorrect treatment, or not paying attention during surgery. Remember, these are only a few examples. A breach of medical care can take several forms. Even developing an infection after surgery may be considered a breach of duty.
Since this element can be rather broad, it’s usually a good idea to consult with a medical malpractice attorney. They can let you know if the breach of duty is a simple mistake or a lapse in your standard of care.
Causation
We briefly touched on causation and it’s the third element of negligence. To meet this standard, you must show your injuries are directly caused by the healthcare provider’s breach of duty.
This is when it’s often helpful to play the ‘but for’ game. Ask yourself if the injury would’ve occurred but for the physician’s negligence. If the only answer is the healthcare provider’s negligence as a cause of your injuries, you’ve probably met this element of negligence.
Damages
This is usually the easiest element of negligence to prove. You must show your damages are only caused by the healthcare professional’s negligence. If you’re wondering what damages are typically included in a medical malpractice claim, the list usually varies depending on the type of injury. However, some damages commonly appear:
- Medical costs. These include costs relating to the original procedure, along with any treatment you need to recover from your injuries.
- Lost income. If your injuries cause you to miss work, you may be able to recover some or all of your lost earnings. Your claim may include lost current and future earnings depending on the extent of your injuries.
These are known as economic damages. Your claim may also include non-economic losses like pain, suffering, and mental anguish. Since these losses are intangible, you’ll need to use either the per diem or multiplier method to calculate their value. This is something else your attorney can help you navigate.
Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim
Once you can prove causation and the other elements of negligence, it’s usually time to start the claim process.
Organize Your Evidence
You’re going to need to submit evidence to support your claim. This typically includes things like your medical records, bills, receipts, and prescriptions.
Since property damage is relatively rare in medical malpractice claims, you don’t need to worry about tracking down estimates to fix a dent in your vehicle’s bumper. This type of damage doesn’t belong in a medical malpractice claim.
Gather your past pay stubs and other financial documents. This will help prove your lost current income. If you’re also claiming lost future earnings, you’re probably going to need a letter from your employer.
Calculate Your Damages
Your claim needs a monetary value and you can’t pick one at random. So, grab a calculator and start adding up your bills and receipts. These are your economic damages.
As we noted earlier in the article calculating your non-economic damages can be challenging to do at times—however, you also don’t want to leave them out. Your non-economic damages often make up a sizable chunk of your claim’s overall value.
Work with an Experienced Medical Malpractice Attorney
Chances are the healthcare provider has excellent legal representation, and so should you. This isn’t usually the type of personal injury claim you want to tackle without legal guidance.
From helping you prove causation to calculating your damages, your attorney can help with every aspect of your legal case.
