When you suffer from any illness or injury and seek medical attention, you anticipate a level of care and professionalism. You understand that there may be no effective treatment for your malady, but you expect that, at a minimum, your condition won’t get worse because of the carelessness or negligence of a medical professional. Unfortunately, as medicine becomes more and more of a for-profit enterprise, corners get cut and people suffer.
In a personal injury lawsuit, the first thing you need to show is that the defendant (the person at fault) did not exercise the level of care expected. In most personal injury claims, that level of care is what would be reasonably expected of an ordinary person. However, with respect to the actions of medical professionals, there’s a higher standard to which they must be held. As developed by the courts, that standard requires that a doctor, nurse or other medical professional employ the same level of care that a reasonably competent and skilled medical professional, with similar training and experience, would use within the same medical community. The determination as to whether that standard was met is typically made by a jury, often based on expert testimony from medical witnesses.
Attorney Jonathan Scott Smith, a Maryland Super Lawyer, has protected the rights of personal injury victims in Maryland for over three decades, including individuals who have been hurt because of the wrongful acts of medical professionals. As a testament to his longstanding record of obtaining positive results, attorney Smith has received the Client’s Choice Award from AVVO, with an average client review of five stars (the highest rating possible). AVVO has given him a perfect 10.0 superb rating as a litigator and he’s also AV-rated under Martindale-Hubbell’s Peer Review Rating System. He’s a Maryland Super Lawyer and was also recognized as a 2012 Top-Rated Lawyer by The American Lawyer Magazine.
Proven Columbia, Maryland, Personal Injury Lawyer
If you have been hurt because of the carelessness or negligence of another person, we can help. Contact our office by e-mail or call us at (410) 441-5054 to schedule an appointment. There’s no cost for your first consultation. We represent injured people in Howard County, Baltimore County, Carroll County, Frederick County, Prince Georges County and Montgomery County in Maryland.