Laws vary from state to state, but the elements of a health care liability claim for medical malpractice or medical negligence are generally:

• a physician or health care provider is a defendant;

• the claim or claims at issue concern treatment, lack of treatment, or a departure from accepted standards of medical care or health care, or safety, professional, or administrative services directly related to health care;

• the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care;

• the defendant breached its duty of care by not meeting the required standard of care; and

• the defendant’s act or omission proximately caused the plaintiff’s injury (was the primary cause of the injury).

In Wisconsin, medical malpractice claims are governed by state statutes and case law. To establish a medical malpractice claim in Wisconsin, the following elements must be proven: (1) the existence of a physician-patient or health care provider-patient relationship, establishing a duty of care; (2) a breach of the standard of care by the health care provider, which means the provider failed to provide the level of care that a reasonably competent provider would have under similar circumstances; (3) a causal connection between the breach of the standard of care and the patient's injury; and (4) actual damages resulting from the injury. Wisconsin law requires that before a lawsuit is filed, a plaintiff must provide an expert witness opinion to support the claim that the standard of care was breached, except in cases where the issue of negligence is within the understanding of a layperson. Additionally, Wisconsin has a cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, which limits the amount of compensation for pain and suffering. It is important for plaintiffs to be aware of the statute of limitations, which generally requires that a medical malpractice lawsuit be filed within three years of the date of injury or one year from the date the injury was or should have been discovered, whichever is later, but not more than five years from the date of the act or omission.