In the US, approximately 80,000 people die due to medical malpractice. Whenever a physician fails to properly treat a medical condition, and this causes an aggravated injury to the patient, then, there is a case of medical malpractice. Filing for a case in a situation like this, gives the victim the opportunity to recover financial losses and damages. In this way, problems within the health care community can also be addressed.
In legal terms, there are three different kinds of medical malpractice, or "mala praxis" in Latin: willful, negligent and ignorant. Willful malpractice refers to the intentional administration of medicine or performance of operations that the doctor knows will harm the patient. Negligent malpractice deals with "gross negligence" regarding the treatment of the patient. Finally, ignorant malpractice is the administration of medicines that do harm to a patient. A claim of this type will usually be settled in a civil suit.
However, as amazing as it may seem, only 2 percent of the people injured by a physician's negligence, look for compensation through lawsuit. The problem is that physicians are not required to be insured. Therefore, if they are not insured, there is little hope of collecting compensation in a case of MP. Another reason is that people are generally afraid of taking legal action, either because they are not well informed about their rights in this situation, or because they think may be too difficult to win the case.
Although requirements may vary from state to state within the US, the three conditions needed to prove you have been victim of medical malpractice are the following: breach of standard of care, causation and damages. To prove the breach of the standard of care you must prove that the doctor made a mistake. You will require an expert witness to testify on your side, usually another doctor. Causation is proved by showing that the doctor's mistake caused you an injury. Finally, the client must show what kind of damages resulted from the doctor's mistakes, either death or a serious injury (economical or of health).
It is very important that doctors acquire medical malpractice insurance. This way, they will be covered for liability claims that may arise from their treatments. The cost of this insurance has increased a lot in the last decade due to the growing number of claims, particularly in the urban areas. Another reason for the increase in these rates is that most insurers are avoiding the medical malpractice business because of the difficulty of making a profit.
Naturally, the most viable solution to medical malpractice is that professionals from this field become more responsible and serious about their jobs. If they are in doubt as to the best treatment or surgery procedure, they can refer to someone who really knows what he/she is doing. Plus, institutions related to the medical field must raise the standards when hiring personnel. When possible, the patients should investigate who they trust with their health.