How can I tell if my doctor committed malpractice?

To determine if your doctor committed malpractice, you must determine if he was negligent and if he breached the professional standard of care that he owed to you. 

• Doctors are held to a duty to behave as a reasonable professional in their field would behave
• If a doctor acts in a manner that no reasonable doctor would, such as prescribing the wrong medicine, performing surgery in an unsterile environment, or leaving a surgical instrument inside of you, then the doctor can be considered to be negligent
• If a doctor fails to act or makes an omission that no reasonable doctor would have made, such as not diagnosing an obvious illness, then this too can be a form of breach of duty. 

After the doctor is compared to a reasonable doctor in order to determine if he was negligent or not, it must then be determined whether the negligence was a direct cause of some type of injury. If you would have had exactly the same medical outcome even with a more careful doctor, then the doctor's negligence cannot give rise to a malpractice suit because there will be no compensable damages. For example, if the doctor negligently did not diagnose a fatal brain tumor, but you would have died anyway even if he had diagnosed it, then there may be no damages to sue for because you lost nothing by not having the diagnosis. If, on the other hand, the doctor's negligence led to injury or to a worsening if your condition, then you may sue for pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills and emotional distress, among other possible damages. 

To ge help determining whether you have a malpractice case, consult with a lawyer to explain your situation.