How Do You Prove Medical Malpractice?
By Craig Knapp on August 9, 2021

Medical malpractice lawsuits are among the more complicated types of personal injury cases. After all, you are taking the jury back to the doctor’s office or operating room and trying to convince a group of people without medical training that a doctor made a mistake that caused your injuries. Nonetheless, an experienced medical malpractice attorney in Arizona can help you prove that the doctor’s negligence injured you.

The Elements of a Medical Malpractice Case

The legal standard in a medical malpractice case is the same as it is in any personal injury case. You must prove that the doctor acted unreasonably under the circumstances. This is in comparison to what a reasonable doctor with average training would have done under the same conditions. The elements that you must show in every medical malpractice case are:

• There was a doctor-patient relationship
• The doctor owed you a duty of care
• The doctor breached the duty of care by making a mistake
• You suffered an injury
• You would not have been injured had it not been for the carelessness of the doctor

The third element is almost always going to be the most hard-fought element in every single case. The doctor is held to the standard of care of a reasonable and competent medical professional and what they would have done under the circumstances. The doctor will maintain that they did nothing wrong, and the patient’s injury was a natural health issue or just a complication from a procedure. You will claim that the doctor was careless and did something wrong, or failed to take action when they should have.

The Burden of Proof Is Always on the Plaintiff

You have the burden of proof to show that your side of the story is more likely than not to have happened. The question is how you carry your burden of proof in a case that relies heavily on scientific and medical evidence. People generally tend to trust doctors, and you must persuade a jury that the doctor was careless. In a medical malpractice case, the main way that you get a jury to second guess a doctor is to come armed with doctors of your own as your expert witnesses.

The main thing to remember in every medical malpractice case is the standard of care that the doctor must have followed. It is one thing to speculate about what the doctor should have done differently. It is another thing to come armed with doctors who testify what accepted medical practice would have dictated under the circumstances. In fact, this is a requirement in every single Arizona medical malpractice case.

Expert Witnesses Will Help You Prove Your Claim

In the typical medical malpractice case, your attorney will consult with medical experts almost immediately after you hire them. The experts will then review the medical records and treatment notes and form an opinion whether the doctor did something wrong and what their exact mistake was. This will largely form the basis for your case. In court, much of your case will be your attorney questioning the expert under oath. While you and other witnesses will testify about your recollections of what happened, the experts are often your star witnesses because they will explain why what transpired was a breach of acceptable medical practice. This is why your attorney should have strong ties to a diverse and deep bench of expert witnesses and know how to work with them. Contact Knapp & Roberts today!