Patients who suffer a negligence-related amputation will face overwhelming consequences, including physical, emotional, and financial challenges. Pursuing a legal claim against the responsible medical institution is essential for getting the resources they need to rebuild their lives.
However, winning a medical malpractice-related amputation case is often an uphill battle due to the complicated legal standards required to prove medical negligence.
Civil courts recognize that a patient’s negative outcome isn’t necessarily proof of medical malpractice and that amputations can happen even when medical practitioners follow all protocols correctly. This is why medical malpractice claims in every state require the testimony of a medical expert in the same field who can provide critical context for that patient’s specific situation and demonstrate how they didn’t meet the standards.
At Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers, our experienced medical malpractice attorneys have the knowledge and resources to help negligence-related amputation victims substantiate their cases’ underlying medical facts with medical testimony.
The key elements involved in proving medical negligence include:
Demonstrating a patient-doctor responsibility: The first element is simply showing a formal, professional relationship between the patient and the medical provider. When medical professionals agree to treat patients, they also assume a legal “duty of care” to ensure their well-being. This component is straightforward to prove and only exists to stop frivolous lawsuits from clogging up the legal system.
Showing a breach in the medical professional’s duty of care: This crucial component of showing medical negligence requires expert witnesses to present persuasive evidence that the patient’s care deviated from acceptable standards compellingly enough to count as negligence. Medical malpractice contributing to a preventable amputation usually involves surgical errors or failure to prevent an infection.
Showing the cause of the patient’s injury: One of the main challenges of winning a medical malpractice case is that, under the legal requirements for negligence, you must do more than demonstrate a healthcare provider’s inappropriate or substandard actions. A successful claim must also indicate a clear and direct link between this act and the patient’s preventable amputation. Proving causation is a lot harder when patients have any pre-existing health conditions that could have contributed to a poor outcome like an amputation because that’s precisely what defense lawyers will argue will happened. You need a lawyer who can find a credible medical expert to prove that the patient could have avoided these complications with a higher standard of care.
Showing specific damages: After the patient has proven that they suffered an unnecessary amputation due to medical negligence, they also have to present evidence of the damages resulting from losing a limb. Amputations are catastrophic injuries with life-long consequences, so the economic and non-economic losses can be massive, both now and in the future.