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Discovery
The pre-trial process, such as a deposition, by which one party discovers the evidence that will be relied upon at trial by the opposing party.
Statute of limitations
A statute specifying the period of time after the occurrence of an injury--or, in some cases, after the discovery of the injury or of its cause--during which any suit must be filed.
Confidentiality
The principle that prohibits physicians from disclosing confidential comments made to them by patients unless required to do so by law. The law may require physicians to violate patient confidentiality if the patient poses a serious threat to his or her own health and the well-being or that of others.
Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate
A cleft is a separation in a body structure. Clefts that occur in the oral-facial region often involve the lip, the roof of the mouth (hard palate) or the soft tissue in the back of the mouth (soft palate).
Proximate Cause
Proximate cause is defined legally as a cause which, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any intervening event, produces injury, and without which, the injury would not have occurred.
Economic damages
Funds to compensate a plaintiff for the monetary costs of an injury, such as medical bills or loss of income.
Arbitration panels
Many states have formed arbitration panels in order to resolve disputes between doctors and their patients.
Medical Treatment
Lawsuits related to medical treatment are triggered by a number of causes, including failure to select the correct treatment or to monitor or follow up on the patient's condition.
Surgical Error
Surgical errors may occur in any kind of medical procedure involving intrusive and non-intrusive surgery. Even the simplest of cosmetic surgical procedures may result in a surgical error.
Res ipsa loquitur
The use of res ipsa loquitur should be prohibited in medical malpractice cases because under this doctrine the mere fact that the injury occurs means that the defendant was negligent, although it is not all the time.
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