Georgia Medical Malpractice Lawyer
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According to a study reprint in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), over 225,000 people die each year due to medical malpractice; nearly half of these are from emergency room errors. If you are a Georgia resident and have been injured due to medical mistakes, or you are a family member of a loved one who has died due to medical mistakes, you may need to consult a medical malpractice lawyer immediately.
Medical malpractice is defined as negligence committed by a health care professional resulting in physical and/or economic harm to a patient. A medical malpractice lawyer or attorney will have the ability to determine if you are a victim of medical malpractice by examining several factors that must be present to prove medical malpractice. They will first decide if taking on your case is economical to their practice and to you as the patient. A case that is hard to prove may take years to settle, and it gets expensive for both parties. Your case may also not be considered malpractice at all, and the lawyer or attorney may feel that defending you would not be a good choice. If a lawyer or attorney does decide to pick up your case, there are many steps involved in the process following the initial meeting. Keep in mind that the burden of proof is on the victim (plaintiff) in the malpractice lawsuit. The elements of proof include breach of duty, duty of care, injury, and proximate cause.
While the elements of proof are similar for every state, the prescribed standard of medical care varies state to state. There are also differences in the ways that damages are awarded, and the amount of time allowed to file your claim. Georgia has a two-year statute of limitations running from the date of injury or death, and a five-year statute of "ultimate repose and abrogation." Foreign object cases may be brought any time within one year of discovering the object. Currently, Georgia does not place a cap on the amount of compensatory damages that may be awarded. However, punitive damages are capped at $250,000, unless the claimant can successfully demonstrate that the defendant had an intent to harm.
A Georgia medical malpractice lawyer or attorney will be able to help you understand healthcare and medical malpractice laws in order to help you recover damages. Medical malpractice attorneys will typically focus on several areas of medical malpractice. These may include some or all of the following: anesthesia negligence, nursing home injuries and negligence, pharmaceutical negligence, birth injury, emergency room errors, surgery errors, medication errors, cerebral palsy, and brain damage, to name a few. When liability is established by a lawyer or attorney, her or she will most likely hire one or more doctors as expert witnesses to testify on the issue at hand. There will most likely be one expert hired before the suit is filed, and additional experts may be hired before the case proceeds to trial and during the trial itself. Both sides must provide expert witnesses to try and prove their case. In Georgia, lawyers are required to attach an affidavit from an expert witness at the time of filing the lawsuit in court, stating that the facts justify the claim.
Because medical malpractice law is a highly specialized field, it's best to seek out attorneys and lawyers whose main focus is medical malpractice law. Contact the American Bar Association for more information about Georgia medical malpractice lawyers and attorneys, and you can also use the ABA lawyer locator to find the best attorney in your area.
Legal•Info State Medical Malpractice Information
Legal•Info State Resources
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