Archive for the ‘ Medical Malpractice’ Category

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Elements of an Orange County Medical Malpractice Action – Part 2

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

For you or your Orange County medical malpractice attorney to bring an action against a health care professional, you must prove the four elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages. Duty and breach of duty were discussed previously in Elements of an Orange County Medical Malpractice Action, Part 1. In this article, we will discuss the two remaining elements: causation and damages.

 

Causation is a more complicated element than it may seem at first. Generally speaking, in order to prevail in a medical malpractice action, you and your Orange County medical malpractice attorney must show that your injury was caused by the defendant’s breach of duty.

 

How much of a cause is required can vary depending on jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions, a “substantial” cause is required—in others, just a “contributing” cause. Sometimes, even if medical negligence was a cause of your injury, the injury may be considered too unforeseeable for liability to be imposed. An Orange County medical malpractice lawyer will be up-to-date on the latest case law and will be able to advise you about what standard of causation you will need to prove in your case.

 

The final element that must be proved is damages. You can recover damages for medical costs, pain and suffering, disability, and loss of income.

 

If you have been injured because of medical negligence, and you want to know if your case has all of the required elements of a medical malpractice action, please call Orange County medical malpractice attorney Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084 for a free evaluation of your case.

Elements of an Orange County Medical Malpractice Action – Part 1

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

Medical malpractice is a form of negligence. An Orange County medical malpractice action is taken against a health care professional. Most commonly, the professional who is targeted in a medical malpractice action is a doctor or physician, but such an action can also be taken against a nurse or a physician’s assistant, or anyone involved in providing medical care to patients.

 

There are four elements of a medical malpractice action that you and your Orange County medical malpractice lawyer must prove:

- Duty

- Breach

- Causation

- Damages

 

A doctor has a “duty” to meet the applicable “standard of care,” meaning that he or she must show the same level of skill that is usually found in his or her profession. Generally, this duty arises when a doctor-patient relationship is formed, such as when a physician agrees to treat a patient. In some situations, however, a person or entity may have a duty to meet the applicable standard of care based on circumstances other than a doctor-patient relationship.

 

For example, some jurisdictions require that a hospital provide care to anyone in a medical emergency. If a person’s medical emergency requires treatment beyond a doctor’s capabilities, the doctor has a duty to refer or transport the injured person to another facility that can care for him or her.

 

A “breach” is established in an Orange County medical malpractice action when a medical professional fails to meet this required standard of care. If a medical professional does not have the knowledge and skills of a competent health care provider, or if a medical professional does not exercise care in the application of that skill and knowledge, he or she has breached the duty between a physician and a patient.

 

For more information about causation and damages, see Elements of an Orange County Medical Malpractice Action, Part 2. If you have been injured due to medical negligence and you want to know if your case meets these four elements, please contact Orange County medical malpractice lawyer Samer Habbas for a free, no-obligation case evaluation by calling (888) 848-5084.

How Much Is My Orange County Medical Malpractice Case Worth?

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

This is probably the question that Orange County medical malpractice lawyers hear the most, but it is also probably the hardest to answer. It is often impossible to predict the value of a medical malpractice case in the early stages because the full extent and the duration of your injuries is unknown.

While an Orange Count medical malpractice lawyer probably won’t be able to put a specific dollar value on your case, there are several factors that will likely help determine your case value. Some of the more common ones are:

- The amount of your medical bills, and how they were incurred (treatment, physical therapy, hospital visits, prescriptions, diagnostic tests).

- Income that was lost as a result of your Orange County medical malpractice injury (including lost pay, sick days, and loss of insurance benefits if you were fired from your job).

- How your injury has affected your daily life outside of work (social activities, household responsibilities).

- Whether your injuries are permanent, including disfiguration because of scars or blemishes.

- How much pain, suffering, and inconvenience you suffered as a result of your injuries.

- Loss of consortium (whether your injury affected your marriage).

These are not the only factors that are considered, and an Orange County medical malpractice lawyer will be able to give you a more thorough analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your case. Please contact Samer Habbas at (888) 848-5084 for a free evaluation of your case.

Feds Raid Local San Bernardino Hospital

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Current events at the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton still have people wondering about the status of previous attempts to cite hospital staff for medical malpractice.

A recent article from NBC in Southern California outlines a raid on the facility by FBI agents and others who confiscated documents. While the raid did not seem to be connected to legal investigations that have been conducted over several years into failure to meet standards of care, the concern over the quality of medical treatment at Arrowhead Regional is ongoing. Many media articles have covered alleged lapses in standards of care at the San Bernardino hospital, and local advocates are keeping an eye on how the facility is addressing complaints.

When a local hospital has a poor reputation, people need to know about it. They should be advised about how to protect their families from chances of medical malpractice including surgical error, lack of sanitation or other mistakes that can jeopardize a patient’s health. Often, victims in a medical malpractice situation rely on experienced legal teams to represent their best interests in a court of law.

If you have suffered injury as a result of medical malpractice, call The Law Offices of Samer Habbas to find out about all of your options for filing a claim to cover all of the costs of hardships arising from your injury. Mr. Habbas has successfully helped many clients deal with a variety of personal injury claims. Call our San Bernardino medical malpractice lawyer at 888-848-5084 today to schedule a consultation to discuss your case.

California Insurance Companies Update Services

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

Some medical malpractice insurance companies in the state of California are moving into the twenty-first century, updating their methods to offer clients easy policy research through the internet.

A recent Business Newsstory features a Southern California medical malpractice firm called Madison Healthcare Insurance Services. The story shows how the firm has created easy-to-use websites that offer doctors, providers and others more access to policy information.

When unfortunate events call for the actual use of an existing medical malpractice policy, efforts like these can help individuals in Southern California areas like Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange County or Los Angeles expedite the work of digging through policies to find applicable information for a claim. This is often part of the challenge of bringing a medical malpractice personal injury claim; even when cause factors can be accurately demonstrated, the chain of paperwork ultimately leads back to the medical malpractice insurance company.

If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice in a Southern California hospital or other facility, contact our experienced Riverside medical malpractice lawyer, Samer Habbas. The staff at The Law Offices of Samer Habbas has experience in helping clients to build effective personal injury cases. Mr. Habbas, a dedicated personal injury lawyer, will keep you updated through every step of your case to make sure you get what you deserve under the law. If you would like to pursue a medical malpractice claim in order to seek compensation for damages, call 888-848-5084 today to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.

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