Patients have what is known as a “reasonable right” to get good medical care from their doctors. Physician’s obligation is to provide a reasonable standard of care—that is, they need to make decisions that are medically justifiable and in the patients’ best interests, based on what the doctor knows about the patient. If a nurse or doctor must have known about a particular symptom or condition, they are accountable for providing appropriate treatment.
However, the “standard of care” can be hard to pin down. The law recognizes that medical situations call for tough decisions with hard-to-predict results. As a result, the standard of care is a little vague, allowing for various situations to have different needs. In order to assert that a doctor, nurse, or medical expert violated a reasonable standard of care, courts require a level of proof only probable through a complex investigation.
What Is Required to Prove Medical Malpractice?
Due to the truths of practicing medicine, the law has made it purposefully hard to prove negligence when it comes to medical treatment. Certain elements need to be proven together, and within the one-year statute of limitations in New Mexico. Attesting negligence without the representation of a knowledgeable medical malpractice attorney would be virtually impossible—you must have the knowledge and insight of a legal professional.
What you need to prove medical malpractice includes:
- There was a doctor-patient relationship established;
- The doctor was negligent or did not deliver reasonable care;
- The doctor’s negligent treatment directly produced the patient harm; and
- The patient has particular injuries and damages as a result of treatment.