Burden of Proof in Filing a Medical Malpractice Suit in Cleveland
When a medical malpractice suit is filed you are responsible for proving your treating physician and/or the medical facility was negligent in their medical care. Since the burden of proof falls to you, your medical malpractice attorney in Cleveland will need to be given specific information to help build your case.
Medical Records
You will need to gather all the medical records you can. Any doctor’s visit or medical treatment you may have had that has led up to your current medical condition may be important to your case. This paper trail may help your medical malpractice attorney show why you were placed in the hands of the treating physician or facility and were, or should have been, treated.
Hospital and Related Bills
Any bills you have denoting visits to the hospital or prescriptions filled may play a vital role in proving your case. Besides helping create your medical history leading up to the incident in question, these bills may be needed to set the amount of compensation you require.
Doctor Information
Putting together a list of all your recent treating physicians and their relevant information will be crucial for your medical malpractice suit and legal team.
Write down contact information, such as:
- names;
- addresses;
- emails;
- telephone numbers;
- when you were treated;
- the location of treatment; and
- why you were seen.
You also may want to write down the contact information for other medical staff, such as nurse practitioners, pharmacists, therapists or whoever else may have worked with you on your medical care.
Documents to Prove Earnings
This is particularly important if your medical condition has restricted you from working. Earnings can be compensated in a valid medical malpractice suit so any documentation you have to substantiate this point will be needed.
These are just a few documents you should collect if you plan on pursuing a medical malpractice suit. Depending on your particular circumstance, you may need more. Contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney who can explain what’s needed to prove your case.
Filing a medical malpractice suit in Cleveland requires you to work honestly with your medical malpractice attorney in relaying all the information pertinent to your case. Medical malpractice cases obligate you to prove your ill-health is a direct result of your doctor’s failure to provide you with an acceptable standard of care. In order to do that, you also must prove a doctor-patient relationship existed.
Reasonable Standard of Care
One part of the burden of proof in a medical malpractice suit is confirming your treating physician acted outside the reasonable standard of care required by medical professionals in this line of medicine.
This normally is proven by hiring a medical expert witness. This medical professional will investigate the procedures in your case to determine if the doctor’s actions fell below the accepted standard of care. You also must show that the failure to adhere to a reasonable standard of care resulted in your current state of health.
Establishing a Doctor-Patient Relationship
Another part of your burden of proof is establishing that a doctor-patient relationship existed between you and the named physician. Once demonstrated by doctor’s visits and prescribed treatments, you then establish that the doctor owed you a duty of care.
This duty means the doctor not only should have treated the condition within acceptable standards, but also effectively communicated the course of treatment along with follow-up care.
A medical malpractice suit can be filed because a doctor didn’t explain thoroughly what a patient was going to be undergoing in the way of treatment. Additionally, dangerous medical errors may occur because the doctor failed to ensure a patient understood what was required in their aftercare.
Speak to an Experienced Cleveland Medical Malpractice Attorney
The team at Mellino Robenalt, LLC has been helping patients in medical malpractice suits for 27 years. These experienced medical malpractice attorneys can assess your circumstances and advise you about going forward in your case. Learn more about what you need to do to file a medical malpractice suit in a FREE Ohio medical malpractice guide by calling 888-457-1147 today.
