Your Iowa nursing home abuse case may not always need a hired expert witness. If your loved one was pushed by a nurse and suffered injuries because of the abuse, you might have video evidence to prove what happened. If so, there will be no need for expert testimony because you have the evidence needed to prove your case.
The Standard of Care and Iowa Nursing Home Claims
Sometimes, though, proving nursing home neglect or abuse can be more complicated. When you bring a claim against a nursing home, it is up to you to prove they were negligent. Under Iowa law, negligence is only proven in cases where nursing homes caused an injury or should have prevented an injury from taking place. This is called breaching the standard of care.
The standard of care is not a black-and-white law that is easy to prove in court. It is dependent on a number of different factors, including who made the error and how the error was made. An attorney cannot say the standard of care was breached – only a medical professional with the same knowledge and experience as the person who hurt your loved one can say it.
In order to prove your case, an attorney must find this expert witness to testify. For example, if a nurse hurt your loved one, your attorney will need to find an expert witness with the same qualifications and experience to testify that the standard of care was breached.
Expert Witnesses for Personal Injury Cases are Expensive
Nursing home cases can be very expensive due to these experts. It can easily cost as much as $50,000 or more in out-of-pocket expenses to obtain expert witnesses and have them testify at trial. That is why RSH Legal only takes on cases where your loved one has been seriously injured or killed because of negligence.
Without these types of serious harms, by the time a nursing home case is done and medical experts are paid, there may be very little money left for the injured resident or their family. There is no good reason to put you and your family through the emotional stress of a personal injury claim if there is very little result at the end of the road.
Finding an Expert Witness to Testify in Your Nursing Home Case
Finding a qualified expert witness to testify about your case is often the hardest part of any Iowa nursing home claim. This expert must be qualified to speak what the standard of care is, and explain how that standard was broken in your case. They must also have the time to analyze your case and figure out what went wrong. Finally, they must also be willing to testify under oath about the negligence that occurred.
As you might imagine, that narrows down the pool of experts quite a bit and can make them difficult to find. An experienced Iowa nursing home attorney has connections to a variety of expert witnesses and can utilize the right one for your case.
If you would like to know more about hiring an expert witness for your Iowa nursing home claim, call RSH Legal today at 1-319-774-1783.
