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Your Doctor’s Liability in a West Virginia Medical Malpractice Claim

Your doctor, like many professionals, is obligated to provide a certain standard of care. When doctors fail to provide acceptable care and patients suffer harm as a result, they can be held liable for negligence.

You will need to prove your doctor's liability if you have suffered injuries and plan to file a West Virginia medical malpractice claim. Since showing a doctor's liability can be a difficult task, you should acquire the assistance of a Clarksburg malpractice attorney, so you can focus your energy on recovery.

A Doctor's Liability for Medical Malpractice

In order to prove a West Virginia medical malpractice claim, a doctor must have acted negligently and caused you harm.

Such negligence could include:

misdiagnosing a condition;
failing to diagnose a condition;
failing to provide timely treatment;
making an error when treating a patient;
failing to provide follow-up care; and
prescribing inappropriate medication.

Your Clarksburg malpractice attorney will have access to medical experts to help demonstrate the doctor's liability and build a strong case on your behalf. In fact, your attorney might need to use a medical expert's testimony during your West Virginia medical malpractice claim to prove your doctor's liability.

Building a Solid West Virginia Medical Malpractice Claim

In order to prove a doctor's liability, your attorney will have to show:

how a doctor with similar credentials would have provided treatment;
how your doctor failed to adhere to the standard of care that has been established;
you suffered injuries;
you would not have suffered injuries had your doctor followed the established standard of care; and
it's very likely your injuries were a result of your doctor's omissions or acts.

In a few cases, your injuries and a doctor's liability might be obvious. For example, suppose your surgeon left a sponge or clamp inside your abdominal cavity. Under the principle of res ipsa loquitur, you would not have to prove your doctor was negligent. However, your doctor would be responsible for proving he or she was not negligent.

Besides your doctor, other parties that could be included in your West Virginia medical malpractice claim include your nurses, hospital, hospital workers and pharmacist. Because of all the parties involved, such cases can be very complex and time-consuming. You should speak with a Clarksburg malpractice attorney as soon as possible because the statute of limitations for filing a West Virginia medical malpractice claim is 2 years. When your future is at stake, you will want to give your attorney ample time to investigate the doctor's liability in order to build a strong claim on your behalf.

Contacting a Clarksburg Malpractice Attorney

If you or a loved one has suffered injuries as a result of a doctor's negligence, call the medical malpractice attorneys at The Miley Legal Group for a FREE consultation - 304-326-1800.