Causation proves a direct link between a negligent act or omission and the injury suffered as a result of the negligence. Florida law says that in order to have a medical malpractice claim the plaintiff has to prove by virtue of the testimony of an expert, that a breach in the standard of care directly caused an injury.

According to Florida law, the plaintiff must” show that the injury was not within the necessary or reasonably foreseeable results of the surgical, medicinal, or diagnostic procedure constituting the medical intervention, if the intervention from which the injury is alleged to have resulted was carried out in accordance with the prevailing professional standard of care by a reasonably prudent similar health care provider.” In other words, the unexpected outcome was not a known potential complication of the procedure and with proper execution of the intervention the injury was preventable. As a practical matter the plaintiff must prove two essential elements to prove causation: 1) that the negligent act did, in fact, cause the plaintiff’s injuries; and 2) that the resulting injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s conduct.

Causation can be a difficult hurdle to cross and the investigation by an experienced attorney is needed to assure that this important element of a medical malpractice claim can be met. Many malpractice cases are defended on the ground that there was no causal relationship between the claimed damages and the alleged negligence. Take, for example, the instance of a 3-6 month delay in the diagnosis of cancer. It is not possible to prove, more likely than not, that the care, treatment and outcome would have been any different had the cancer been diagnosed earlier.

If you think you, or a loved one, have been directly injured by a healthcare provider’s acts or omissions contact the experienced medical attorneys of Rue & Ziffra for a free consultation and evaluation of your claim.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 8:10 pm and is filed under General Injury News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.