Seldom does the plaintiff win a such lawsuit. That fact reflects the number or hurdles that confront any lawyer-client team that has chosen to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit.
First hurdle
The potential client faces this hurdle alone. He or she must find a suitable Personal Injury Lawyer in Sydney, one that has extensive experience with medical malpractice lawsuits. A good attorney should be ready to search for and contact a suitable expert, medical witness.
—A suitable expert witness should give convincing testimony
—By the same token, he or she should understand how to provide the jurors with easy-to-understand testimony.
Second hurdle
Produce proof of the fact that the doctor/defendant has exhibited conduct that could be classed as medical malpractice. Evidence to offer as proof usually comes from a medical expert. Few physicians feel comfortable about pointing an accusatory finger at another doctor.
Extract valuable information from a questioned expert
—What should have been done?
—How to deal with the fact that there could be more than one acceptable way to treat the plaintiff’s condition/ailment; Physicians are allowed to suggest a use for a given medication, even if that same use has not been mentioned on the medicine’s label.
3rd of 4 hurdles
Convince the members of the jury that the doctor, the defendant made a wrong decision: That can prove difficult, because the typical person serving on a jury has chosen to trust his or her own doctor. The best way to impress the minds of the jurors entails suggesting that the allegedly negligent physician made an obvious mistake. If the mistake is not obvious to the jurors, it should seem markedly wrong to a medical expert.
Last of the hurdles
Dealing with the fact that medical advances get introduced with a surprising frequency: It could be hard to find an expert that was ready to talk about an issue related to one of the more recent advances. At first, those in the medical community seek proof that the new technique, test or treatment works effectively. Later, after the newer test, technique or treatment has become the established approach, doctors would have reason of frown on the older approach.
Patients might not realize the extent to which developments have increased the number of ways by which a given test or technique might be administered.
Possible targets for a medical malpractice lawsuit
• A physician
• A medical laboratory
• A hospital: A hospital could be the target of a medical malpractice lawsuit, if it allowed on its staff a doctor that did not have the proper certification.
• A medical clinic
