Every year many thousands of people are injured as a result of medical malpractice.  Nationally, a Harvard Medical Practice Study estimated that each year more than 180,000 people die, at least in part, because of medical mistakes.

Establishing Medical Malpractice In Nevada

Medical malpractice is actually one variety of a standard negligence claim. In Nevada, in order to show medical malpractice, a plaintiff needs to prove the following elements:

                                         Medical Malpractice                                         

1. Plaintiff showed an accepted standard of medical care or practice;
2. Defendant's conduct departed from that standard;
3. Defendant's conduct was the actual and proximate cause of plaintiff's injury; and,
4. Plaintiff suffered damages.

Although medical malpractice is really a form of negligence, it must be proven through the use of expert witnesses. Doctors are usually needed to evaluate cases and to testify against other doctors. Similarly, nurses are frequently required to testify against other nurses. Defense lawyers hire their own experts in an effort to defeat the plaintiff's case. In medical malpractice trials, the jury is usually left to decide which side's experts offered a more credible explanation of a doctor's conduct and whether such fell below the standard of care required under those circumstances. It is a frightening conduct of modern medicine that lawyers for both sides can generally find doctors to support their positions.

Standard of Care

The concept of standard of care is fluid and often controversial. Medicine is a fast-evolving science and doctors are responsible for providing proper medical care. Doctors do not need to do everything right in all circumstances. The law reflects that mistakes are sometimes made. In simple terms, though, those mistakes must be accepted by other doctors similarly situated as mistakes which fall within the standard of care. Mistakes which fall outside of the standard of care and cause harm constitute malpractice.

Causation

Causation must be proved. Even if a plaintiff proves that a doctor's conduct fell below the standard of care the plaintiff must still prove that this departure caused injury. Defense lawyers and their experts skilled in finding creative ways to assert that an injury was caused by an event that are not causally connected with the doctor's departure from the standard of care. In many cases, the defense claims that the injury would have occurred regardless of the malpractice. In this way, the defendant can actually concede that  malpractice was committed and then assert that there are no damages that flow from the malpractice.