When a dentist makes an error, it can cause serious injury. A dental malpractice lawyer Chicago can help victims recover compensation for their losses. They will first establish that the dental professional had a legal duty of care and this was breached.
They will also prove that this breach directly caused the injury. This is accomplished through demonstrating the following four elements:
Duty of Care
Dental malpractice involves harm to a patient due to the negligence or carelessness of a dentist. A malpractice lawyer could help victims recover damages for their injuries. These include medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
To file a claim for dental malpractice, you must prove four elements: duty of care, breach of this duty, causation, and damages. To establish the first element, you must show that a dentist-patient relationship existed. This may be proved with documentation, such as appointment cards or receipts. Next, you must show that the dentist breached this duty by not providing appropriate treatment. Examples of breaches include using a rusty tool that leads to an infection.
Finally, you must prove that the dentist’s breach of duty caused your injury. This may be done with expert testimony. Causation is typically measured by the “but for” test: If not for the dentist’s breach, you would not have suffered an injury. Causation is also broken down into actual and proximate causes.
Breach of Duty
As anyone who has been to the dentist can attest, bad outcomes do occur. However, a legal claim for malpractice is not valid unless the dentist deviated from accepted standards of care and this breach caused injury to the patient.
Medical standards of care are established by comparing what another health care provider would do under similar circumstances. In many cases, this will require expert testimony from a dental or medical specialist who has experience with the specific procedure in question.
The next element of the case involves showing that the dentist breached this standard of care and that the breach caused your injuries. Again, this can be a complicated matter, and proving this requires analyzing medical records and other evidence such as X-rays or test results. Often, the breach will be shown by showing that the dentist didn’t take steps that an ordinary dentist with similar training would have taken under these circumstances. This is known as negligence.
Causation
When people think of medical malpractice, they often envision doctors and surgeons, but dentists are also prone to making mistakes that can lead to serious injury. If a dentist is found to have committed malpractice, the victim can file a claim for compensation.
In order for a claim to move forward, it must contain four elements. First, it must establish that the dental professional owed the patient a duty of care. This is usually done by introducing expert witnesses who can attest to how a skilled dentist would have acted in similar circumstances.
Second, the claim must show that the dentist breached this duty of care. This can be established by providing records of any procedures that were not completed or documents detailing any injuries suffered.
Finally, the claim must demonstrate that the dentist’s mistake or misconduct was a direct cause of the victim’s injuries. This can be proven by presenting medical bills and other documentation of financial loss.
Damages
A dental malpractice claim requires proving that a dentist owed you a duty of care, that the dentist breached that duty, that the breach caused your injuries, and that your damages resulted from those injuries. This is a complicated task and often involves bringing in expert witnesses to testify about the applicable standard of care, how the dentist’s actions fell short of that standard and how your injuries incurred as a consequence.
Our attorney will thoroughly investigate all the facts of your case, including gathering and reviewing all relevant medical records, as well as any other witnesses who could provide helpful information. This may also include any dental assistants, dental hygienists or nurses who were involved in your treatment.
In some cases, dental malpractice can lead to severe or even fatal injury. When this happens, a wrongful death lawsuit can be pursued to recover compensation for the victim’s final expenses, as well as their loved ones’ losses.
