Medical malpractice cases present unique legal hurdles that set them apart from other personal injury claims. While patients may strongly believe their doctor made a mistake, being able to prove medical negligence or malpractice in court requires meeting strict legal standards that can be difficult to establish.
Understanding what makes medical malpractice cases so challenging can help you make an informed decision about pursuing legal action. Below, Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger Norfleet’s experienced team of Kansas City lawyers sheds light on the complexity of malpractice cases.
The Four Essential Elements of Medical Malpractice
To prove medical malpractice it is necessary to establish four critical elements, as detailed below. Each element must be demonstrated with convincing evidence for a case to succeed.
Duty of Care
For medical malpractice to occur, the healthcare provider must have owed the patient a professional duty of care, such as by establishing a doctor-patient relationship through treatment or consultation.
Breach of Standard of Care
The medical provider's actions must have deviated from the accepted medical standard of care applicable to the patient’s condition and situation. Demonstrating a standard of care breach requires proving that a reasonable healthcare professional, acting in similar circumstances, would have acted differently.
Causation
Establishing causation requires demonstrating that the medical provider's breach directly caused the patient’s injury. This requires demonstrating both factual causation (the breach actually caused the harm) and legal causation (the harm was a foreseeable result).
Damages
The patient must have experienced actual harm or injury as a result of the provider's actions. Poor outcomes alone, without additional damages, are generally not sufficient to support a malpractice claim.
Why Expert Testimony Is Critical
Expert witness testimony from qualified healthcare professionals is crucial in a malpractice case. Medical expert witnesses serve several crucial functions, including:
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Establishing what the appropriate standard of care should have been
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Explaining how the defendant's actions deviated from accepted practices
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Connecting the provider's actions to the patient's resulting injuries
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Translating medical terminology into language that laypeople can understand
Finding qualified experts willing to testify against fellow healthcare providers can be challenging. Many physicians are reluctant to criticize colleagues, and those who do testify must have appropriate credentials and experience in the relevant medical field.
The Challenge of Proving Causation
Causation often presents the most significant hurdle in medical malpractice cases. Patients typically seek medical care because they already have health problems, making it difficult to separate preexisting conditions from injuries caused by negligent treatment.
Underlying Medical Conditions
Healthcare providers frequently argue that poor medical outcomes resulted from underlying conditions that a patient has rather than substandard care. This defense can be particularly effective when patients have multiple health issues or risk factors.
Inherent Uncertainty and Risk
Additionally, medicine inherently involves uncertainty and risks. Even appropriate medical treatment is not always successful and can sometimes lead to adverse outcomes. Proving that a different approach would have prevented a patient’s injury requires substantial medical evidence.
Legal Complexity
Missouri law imposes specific requirements that make it particularly challenging to prove negligence in a medical malpractice case, such as:
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Missouri requires an affidavit from a qualified healthcare professional stating that the case has merit before it can proceed.
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Additionally, Missouri has a statute of limitations that generally requires medical malpractice claims to be filed within two years of when the injury was discovered or should have been discovered.
Documentation and Evidence Challenges
Medical records and documentation play an important role in medical malpractice cases. These records are created by the same healthcare providers being accused of negligence, potentially creating bias in the evidence. For example:
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Important documentation may be missing, incomplete, or altered after the fact.
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Healthcare providers sometimes fail to document crucial details about their decision-making process or the patient's condition at the time of treatment.
Obtaining and reviewing medical records requires significant time and resources. A Kansas City lawyer experienced in medical malpractice must carefully analyze extensive documentation to identify evidence of negligent medical care.
High Costs and Resource Requirements
Medical malpractice cases typically require substantial financial investment before any potential recovery of damages. Costs associated with pursuing a medical negligence case include:
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Expert witness fees, which can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per hour
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Fees for medical record retrieval and analysis
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Additional medical evaluations and testing
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Extensive discovery and investigation
These high costs associated with malpractice cases with limited damages may not be economically viable to pursue, even when negligence occurred.
The Importance of Experienced Legal Representation
Given the substantial challenges associated with medical negligence cases, Missouri patients considering a medical malpractice claim benefit from working with a Kansas City lawyer who understands the unique demands of these cases. An experienced medical malpractice lawyer can evaluate whether sufficient evidence exists to meet the legal standards required for success.
Medical malpractice cases require patience, resources, and realistic expectations about the challenges involved when trying to prove negligence against healthcare providers. Our experienced Kansas City lawyers have a track record of successful results for our clients. We work diligently on behalf of clients who have been impacted by medical negligence to help:
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Ensure that all necessary expert witnesses are identified and retained
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Make certain that medical records are properly analyzed
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Demonstrate how the healthcare provider's actions caused the patient's injuries