Whether it’s a routine checkup or an emergency visit to the hospital, you deserve to receive considerate and high-quality care from every doctor who treats you. Unfortunately, not every medical professional is as careful with their patients as they should be. Malpractice” by doctors can sometimes have devastating and even life-altering consequences.
If you’ve been hurt by a doctor and want to explore your options for demanding civil compensation, you should make contacting a Pennsauken medical malpractice lawyer your top priority. Many rules and restrictions placed by New Jersey law on medical malpractice claims don’t apply to any other type of personal injury case. You need an experienced attorney’s help to get the best possible result from your unique lawsuit or settlement proposal.
What Is the Standard of Care for Doctors?
Most of the time, suing someone else over negligence requires you to prove they violated a duty of care, meaning they did something reckless or careless that no other reasonable person would’ve done under the circumstances. If you’re trying to sue a healthcare professional over a medical error, you need to prove the doctor you’re suing violated a standard of care based on what another equally qualified doctor would’ve done under the circumstances.
Because doctors have high-stress jobs and need specialized knowledge to perform those jobs, this change in how negligence is defined for malpractice claims allows doctors to make minor mistakes. This is a big reason why medical malpractice lawsuits in Pennsauken are often uniquely complicated, especially if you try to pursue one without a seasoned attorney’s assistance.
Affidavits of Merit for Malpractice Claims
Another complicating factor that affects medical malpractice lawsuits is the affidavit of merit requirement. The court won’t take your word for it that a doctor’s actions were negligent enough to violate a standard of care they owed you. You need to get at least one qualified medical expert to write and sign an affidavit that states, under oath, that they think you have valid grounds to file suit.
More specifically, you need to seek support from an appropriately licensed person who works in the same field and has roughly the same medical knowledge as the doctor you’re suing. You generally need to submit the affidavit to the court no more than 60 days after the doctor you’re suing responds to your initial complaints against them. Our medical malpractice lawyers in Pennsauken can help you meet this key requirement for filing a malpractice claim. We previously secured $1.3 million in a pre-trial settlement for a woman whose doctor cut a nerve in her shoulder while performing a simple biopsy.
Get in Touch with a Pennsauken Medical Malpractice Attorney Today
Any time someone else’s negligence leads to you suffering an avoidable injury, you have a right under New Jersey law to sue them in civil court and demand payment for the harm you’ve suffered due to their actions. When the negligent person is a medical professional and they hurt you by providing substandard medical care, the process of suing them gets complicated quickly.
A respected Pennsauken medical malpractice lawyer can step in to help you build the strongest claim possible and get paid what you deserve for your damages. Call today to learn more.