Under Indiana law, a patient who is injured by a doctor's or other healthcare provider's substandard care has a right to compensation for injuries.  Substandard medical care is care which violates medical standards.  The law presumes that there are certain medical standards which direct how a health care provider should react to a given situation.  Those medical standards are not contained in any one book or list. They are generally recognized by competent physicians and health care providers, described in medical journals and medical text, and taught in medical schools.

In order to have a medical malpractice claim, you must have: liability, damages and causation.

• Liability means that the health care provider must have violated accepted medical practices.

• Damages means that you must have suffered physical injury or economic loss.

• Causation means that the damages that you have suffered must have been a result of the substandard medical treatment.

It is important to note that a bad outcome from a medical procedure is not necessarily malpractice.  There are risks associated with all medical procedures -- even when they are done properly.  A doctor or other healthcare provider is responsible for a bad outcome only if it is the result of substandard medical treatment.