Malpractice Cases: Importance of a Medical Expert

Medical malpractice pertains to the professional negligence of a health care provider, such as doctors, therapists, and nurses, wherein it caused harm, injury, or death to the patient. Most medical malpractice cases involve a medical error in diagnosing the illness or misdiagnosis, providing wrong medication dosage, leaving things inside the patient's body during surgery, or operating on the wrong part of the body. In this context, the error happened because they did nothing about the situation (also referred to as an act of omission), or the error was likely due to negligence in their part.

For patients to receive compensation for their suffering, they need to seek advise from experts of medical malpractice laws. Majority of malpractice cases need medical expert testimony, and without it, the judge is likely to dismiss or decide the case early. The rationale behind this is that the courts have agreed that the technical information the jury must consider becomes too complicated to sort without the help of a medical expert. However, opinion of the expert is not always entirely accepted by the jury, rather it is used to consider the facts.

The rules of every state differ when it comes to who is qualified to give testimonies as a medical expert. If the case of the plaintiff involves malpractice within a specialized field, then you will need a specialist as your medical expert. The expert may be considered as a specialist through a combination of academic and practical experience, and even board certification.