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The California Medical Malpractice Case Practice and Its Policy



Medical negligence is usually referred to as medical malpractice and it typically occurs when the provider of such medical care violates governing standards for treatment when causes a patient to suffer injuries. California medical malpractice case policy is like other medical malpractice policies practiced nationwide, and limits punitive damages to $250,000 in most cases.

Medical malpractice can result from a particular action taken by medical personnel or the failure to take the right action; such medical malpractice actions can be taken up by the injured patient against the medical provider including doctor, counselor, psychologists and psychotherapists.

Here are a few examples of medical malpractice cases: misdiagnosis of or failure to diagnose a medical condition; providing the wrong treatment for the medical condition in cause; and unreasonable delay in treating a diagnosed medical condition. Some general rules and regulation applied to medical malpractice are discussed below.

Collateral Source Rule

Under a typical collateral source rule a defendant may not seek to reduce liability by introducing evidence that the plaintiff has received compensation from other sources such as the plaintiff's own insurance coverage. In a California medical malpractice case the court's policy is that a discretionally offset amount is determined for such payments and this evidence can be introduced at a trial.

Joint and Several Liability

The traditional rule of joint and multiple liability when more than one defendant is found liable for the injury suffered by a plaintiff is that each individual will be separately liable for the entire amount of the judgment. Under California medical malpractice case policy which involves non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, the proportional fault of each defendant is therefore established and each one is liable only for the amount of any such damages that they are proportionally responsible for causing.

Upon a party's request there is a mandatory periodic payment of future damages awards in excess of $50,000; should the plaintiff pass away before all payments have been made the judgment may be modified by the court, although payments continue to the parties to whom the plaintiff owed a duty of support.

Additional Rules

California medical malpractice case policy also permits and enforces contracts for arbitration of malpractice claims. A doctor must be given 90 days notice of the intent to file suit before the medical malpractice adjudication can begin.

Due to the complexity of medical malpractice policies you're advised to hire an experienced lawyer should you ever be faced with having to go through such a lawsuit. Take care selecting witnesses as well -- expert witnesses used at medical malpractice trials must be educated in the specific field in order to be able to evaluate the specifics of the case and its claims and have the testimony be allowed into the court record.

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