When you or your loved one go to your physician for an ailment, you trust your doctor will properly treat you. If you feel you’ve been injured, lost a loved one, or failed to be treated properly by your physician, you may have a medical malpractice claim.
What is Medical Malpractice?
In Virginia, medical malpractice occurs as a direct result of medical negligence. Medical negligence is defined as when a doctor fails to do something or doesn’t do something that directly results in harm to or death of the patient. In legalese, an act or failure to act is called an “omission.” When a provider commits medical negligence, they have violated the standard of care.
Standard of care is the methods and practices used by physicians to treat a patient with a specific disease or illness. For example, if you were a 35 year old female being treated for diabetes, you should expect the same or very similar treatments as another female with diabetes in your age group.
Virginia Statute of Limitations
Virginia’s statute of limitations differentiates between medical malpractice resulting in death and malpractice resulting in injury. If the plaintiff has sustained injury as a result of malpractice, then they have two years from the time of injury or when treatment ended to file a claim. If the malpractice case involved a wrongful death, then a claim must be filed within two years of the decedent’s death.
Because Virginia places a time limit on medical malpractice claims, it’s important that you contact a Virginia medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible if you believe you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice.
Proving Injury or Damage in Your Medical Malpractice Claim
In order to have a successful medical malpractice suit, you have to prove the mistake your surgeon or doctor made directly resulted in injury or death. Obvious examples of proving injury occurred would be if the surgeon left a foreign object inside you after surgery or amputated the wrong limb.
Next you most prove causation. Legally, you have to prove that the mistake your doctor made directly caused your injury or death of a loved one. Usually in order to do this, you have to hire expert witnesses (other doctors or medical professionals) to explain direct causation between the mistake made and the death or injury. This portion of a lawsuit can be costly. Fortunately, most attorneys pay the initial costs of these witnesses upfront as they’re likely working on a “contingency fee” basis. This means that you only have to pay them if they win your case.
Call Our Newport News Medical Malpractice Attorneys – Free Consult
When filing a malpractice claim, it is important to expect that the medical professional you’re filing a claim against with will fight zealously to make sure they win their case as medical malpractice suits can negatively impact their practice. If you believe you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, you need a knowledgeable, committed advocate on your side. At Larry King Law, we can help you get the justice and reparations you deserve. With over 50 years of experience you can be assured our Virginia attorneys can represent you tenaciously.