People in New Jersey seek treatment from doctors, surgeons and other healthcare professionals with the expectation that doing so will result in their improvement. Unfortunately, health care does not come with a guarantee of satisfaction. Clinicians can attempt treatment that ultimately may not work. The question as to their role in it not working (or worse yet, causing a deterioration in a patient’s health) comes down to being able to prove whether or not they met the standard of care warranted in the situations they were dealing with.
Simply saying that the results of treatment show that doctors did not do their job properly is often not enough to justify taking legal action against them. Such was the message a Massachusetts judge conveyed to a family after it sued members of the medical team involved in the treatment of their daughter during her hospitalization for psychiatric issues. Listed in their lawsuit were four doctors who worked with the teen during the 10 months that she was hospitalized. However, some of the doctors listed claimed that their involvement in her case was limited (with one even saying that she never had face-to-face contact with the girl). The judge hearing the case ultimately told the family that they had failed to show that despite their claims of the caregivers’ incompetence, that there was even any coordination between the defendants in the girl’s care.
Yet hearing of medical malpractice cases being dismissed due to a lack of supportive evidence should not discourage those who believe they were injured due to doctors’ poor decisions from seeking action. Rather, it should emphasize the importance of understanding the evidence supporting their claims. An experienced attorney may be able to provide such insight.
