Fremont Medical Malpractice Lawyer
The legal area of medical malpractice strives to hold health care professionals accountable for negligence and the preventable injury of their patients. Medical malpractice claims could be complex. There may be a variety of facts that must be analyzed to ensure your claim has merit and could legally be filed with a court.
If you suffered a serious injury due to the negligence of a health care professional, you may benefit from a consultation with one of Inkelaar Law’s Fremont medical malpractice lawyer. A dedicated personal injury attorney could investigate your situation and seek to build a strong, effective case on your behalf.
Prerequisites to Filing a Lawsuit
A medical malpractice may leave a person with a variety of damages, including death in some extreme cases. Before you could initiate a medical malpractice suit in Nebraska’s courts, the proposed complaint must be reviewed by a specially-appointed panel, as per Nebraska Revised Statutes §44-2840). This process serves as a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit, although the panel’s approval may be waived in certain situations.
After the panel is formed, it may consider all relevant medical evidence which may include:
- Depositions of witnesses
- Medical charts
- X-rays
- Excerpts of treatises
- Laboratory test results
Once the evidence is submitted and the panel considers all evidence. It must determine whether the evidence indicates that the medical professional failed to adhere to the medical standard of care; or that the medical professional met the applicable standard of care. It is typically helpful to retain a medical malpractice attorney in Fremont even for this early step, as they could help you ensure that all available and relevant evidence is submitted to the panel in a timely fashion.
State of Limitations for Claims
Nebraska, like every state, has a deadline for filing any type of lawsuit in court. Known as the statute of limitations, the deadline for the medical industry could be similar to the one that may apply to personal injury cases. It should be noted there are special exceptions in certain cases.
You may have two years from the date that the alleged malpractice act occurred, or one year from the date the injury should have been reasonably discovered, to file a lawsuit. Nebraska’s statute of repose further limits medical malpractice cases to within ten years of the date the alleged malpractice occurred.
If neither you nor your medical malpractice lawyer in Fremont files a lawsuit within these time periods, the court may dismiss the case. It could be important to note that using a medical review panel automatically tolls, or pauses, the statute of limitations from running. The “clock” begins running again 90 days after the panel has made its decision.
Limits on Damages a Plaintiff Could Receive
Nebraska limits the amount of compensation you may receive after getting a jury verdict in their favor. Under NRS §44-2825, this cap is set according to when the alleged malpractice took place.
The state’s cap also applies to all damages, not only to non-economic damages. “Non-economic” damages may include compensation for intangible losses like pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium, and other forms of losses that cannot be calculated by receipts or statements.
How a Fremont Medical Malpractice Attorney Could Help
Initiating any lawsuit against a health care provider or facility could be daunting and time-consuming. It may take a tremendous amount of resources to build an effective medical malpractice case and take it to trial against the medical industry.
Injured plaintiffs in Nebraska could receive skilled and compassionate assistance from a Fremont medical malpractice lawyer. Call Inkelaar Law today to see what our team could do for you.