Memphis Medical Malpractice Cases

Do you have a Medical Malpractice, Nursing Home Negligence or Injury Case?

What Constitutes Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is more than simply a bad outcome after a medical procedure.  After all, every medical procedure comes with risks.  Medical malpractice occurs when your doctor fails to abide by recognized standards of care, causing you an injury.  According to malpractice law, you must demonstrate three things to prevail in a medical malpractice case:

• The standards of professional practice in the defendant’s profession and specialty
• The defendant did not live up to those standards in taking care of you
• Their failure to live up to those standards caused you injuries that would not otherwise have occurred

Establishing professional standards

Tennessee, including Memphis, medical malpractice laws require that the plaintiff demonstrate the recognized standard of acceptable professional practice that applied to your doctor at the time of the injury.  To demonstrate this standard, your lawyer may ask medical professionals from within your community or a neighboring community to testify.  Medical malpractice laws in Memphis prohibit testimony about standards if the witness comes from too far away.  For example, a New York expert cannot testify on your behalf.

Failing to live up to professional standards

Next, you must show that the defendant acted with less than or failed to act with ordinary and reasonable care in keeping with those professional standards—in other words, that the defendant was negligent.  Here, most of the testimony will come from people who know how your injury came about—e.g., people who were present the day of the injury, including the defendant. 

Causing injury through negligence

After you show that the defendant doctor was negligent, medical malpractice laws in Memphis require you to show that the negligence caused your injury.  Here, your lawyer may employ the same expert witnesses he used to show that your doctor was negligent, and more testimony will probably come from your current treating doctors.  This is the part of the case where you establish a causal connection between the doctor’s negligence and your injury.

Reckoning damages

If you successfully demonstrate that your doctor was negligent and that such negligence caused you injury, the size of the financial compensation to which you are entitled depends on your damages.  Your lawyer will ask your treating physicians to testify about the extent of your injuries, whether and how those injuries have affected your ability to earn a living, and whether those injuries are permanent.  The defendants usually have their own witnesses to counter, explaining that you really were not hurt that badly.

Getting help

Defendants will fight you at every stage of the process, from filing your suit to demonstrating negligence to calculating damages.  Contact Skouteris & Magee, PLLC for talented and effective Memphis medical malpractice representation.