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.