When healthcare providers do not meet the professional standards of care that the law requires, the resulting medical negligence or medical malpractice can harm patients. Medical negligence is notoriously difficult to prove. People who sustain injuries from medical negligence often face significant hurdles when trying to recover compensation to help pay for their injuries.
This brings us to the “4 Ds” of medical negligence.
To be successful, any medical negligence claim must demonstrate that four specific elements exist. These elements, the “4 Ds” of medical negligence, are (1) duty, (2) deviation from the standard of care, (3) damages, and (4) direct cause.
If you suffered serious injuries due to a doctor or other healthcare professional’s negligence, you could be entitled to compensation for your losses. Contact the New York medical malpractice attorneys at Finz & Finz, P.C. by calling us or reaching out online today.
Duty
All medical providers – including surgeons, general practitioners, nurses, nursing home staff, and many others – owe a specific duty of care to the patients they treat. The nature of this duty depends on their individual role and the types of treatment they are hired to provide.
In most cases, healthcare professionals are expected to:
- Advise patients about the potential risks of a planned procedure.
- Ensure that patients’ medical information stays private.
- Keep patients fully informed of their unique medical situations.
- Maintain a high standard of care when treating patients.
It’s important to keep in mind that there must first be an established relationship between a healthcare provider and a patient before a duty of care exists. For example, doctors eating in restaurants generally do not owe a duty of care to other patrons suffering from medical afflictions during their meals, unless they happen to volunteer their services.
Treating physicians, nurses, and other caregivers, however, do establish a relationship and owe a special duty of care when they provide medical treatment.
Deviation from the Standard of Care
A standard of care is established once there is a relationship between a medical professional and their patient. The “standard of care” is the type and quality of care that would be reasonably provided by a healthcare provider of the same status as the treating caregiver. Said another way, what treatment would a competent doctor, nurse, or caregiver have provided under the same facts and circ*mstances? Any deviation from that standard of care could be considered medical negligence.
If doctors, nurses, or other caregivers do not treat their patients with the same level of skill and diligence that other similarly qualified professionals would practice under similar circ*mstances, they are deviating from the expected standards of care.
Common examples of such deviations include misdiagnoses, misinterpreting test results, recommending unnecessary or dangerous treatments, recommending improper medications or dosage amounts, and employing improper treatment or surgical techniques.
Unless you are a medical professional yourself, it can be difficult to recognize deviations from accepted standards of care, and even harder to prove their existence in court.The legal team at Finz & Finz, P.C. will thoroughly investigate your case, including a full analysis of your medical records, and engage the most highly qualified medical experts to assist in the formulation of an effective legal theory and explain to the jury the proper standard of care in your case and describe the actions that should have been taken under the circ*mstances.
Damages
The third element of any successful medical negligence claim is proof that the healthcare provider’s action or inaction resulted in real damages to the patient. These damages may be physical, mental, emotional, or financial in nature. Some of the most common types of damages seen in medical negligence claims include:
- Future medical costs from the treatment of any lasting effects of the negligence
- Hospital bills and other expenses from the initial treatment
- Loss of enjoyment of life, consortium, or familial support
- Lost wages and future earning potential from missed time at work and diminished earning capacity resulting from the injury
- Pain, suffering, and mental anguish
- Physical therapy, mental health treatment, and home caregiving expenses
- Punitive damages, intended to punish egregiously negligent providers
The goal of a successful medical negligence claim is to obtain compensation for patients who suffer damages like those listed above. This financial reimbursem*nt goes a long way toward helping injured victims recover from their medical malpractice injuries and move on with their lives.
Direct Cause
Finally, injured patients must prove that the medical provider’s negligence was the direct cause of any damages they suffered. In some cases, this is a relatively straightforward process. For example, if a surgeon accidentally amputates the wrong limb on a patient, the cause of that patient’s injuries will be especially easy to demonstrate. However, proving causation is not always so simple.
Sometimes a healthcare provider’s decision about the best course of treatment ends up causing injury to a patient. It can be difficult to prove that this kind of decision represented a deviation from the standard of care, rather than an unavoidable mistake. Because doctors and nurses undergo years of specialized training and education to prepare for their roles, it’s often next to impossible for non-experts to fully understand the circ*mstances and choices these professionals face.
To establish that the medical professional’s actions were the direct cause of your injuries, a medical malpractice attorney will investigate your case, engage a top medical expert trained in the medical subspecialty of your injury, and obtain additional proof that strengthens your claim. Strong proof is critical in a medical negligence case, so if you think that you’ve been injured by the negligence of a healthcare provider, it is critically important that you act quickly to preserve short-lived evidence.
Contact a Medical Malpractice Lawyer at Finz & Finz, P.C.
Over 40 years, the highly experienced medical malpractice lawyers of have won more than $1 billion in compensation for deserving clients throughout Manhattan, Long Island, and the surrounding areas of New York.
It is our never-ending commitment to fight for full and fair compensation on behalf of victims injured as a result of medical negligence, and we never quit. To learn more about the ways we can help, call us or contact us online today for a free and confidential claim review.
