Medical Malpractice: What to Look for in a Personal Injury Lawyer
Your doctor made a really big mistake and now you are worse off than before. You’ve got mounting medical bills and have to take a lot of time off work. You aren’t even sure you can continue to do the same job. You keep getting the run around and are running out of options. Hiring an experienced medical malpractice lawyer is the first step in getting satisfaction. She’ll handle all the complexities of your case for you and ensure that you receive top dollar for your injuries.
Unfortunately, doctors are human and make mistakes. A report from the federal government in 1999 estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die in hospitals alone every year as a result of medical negligence. That’s not counting the other types of medical offices and doesn’t include people who didn’t die but were injured. That’s a whole lot of people and you are one of them. A medical malpractice case is a lawsuit against doctors and other medical workers who make such errors.
Did your doctor commit malpractice against you? If he did something really obvious like perform the wrong operation, then absolutely. But it may be hard to tell what went wrong in your case. An experienced attorney can find out by looking through all the evidence. You’ll most likely need to sue everyone that participated in your care, including the hospital in order to get to the bottom of it. That consent form you signed shouldn’t keep you from asserting your rights. But it might require that you deal with problems out of court through arbitration. An experienced lawyer will know exactly how to handle such a situation.
You might feel like you are swimming against the tide trying to juggle all the doctors, the hospital, insurance companies and lawyers for the other side. Your attorney can take this off your plate so you can focus on getting better and putting your life back together. Since she knows what she’s doing, she won’t be intimidated. Make sure you act before any time limits for filing suit expire. Your medical malpractice attorney should have lots of experience with similar cases. Since every case is different, don’t ask what her average award is, instead find out what percent go to trial and how many are settled. She should pay close attention when you speak and ask probing questions to get to the heart of the matter. She’ll very carefully explain what happens in a lawsuit like this and how she expects to be paid. An attorney that spends a lot of time bragging about a big payday without hearing the particulars of your case is probably not going to do a good job for you.
After your lawsuit is filed then both sides will start gathering evidence and witnesses. This discovery phase of the suit also helps your attorney assess your potential damages. Both your attorney and the attorneys for the other side will need access to all of your medical records. Your lawyer will also hire experts to look at your injuries. A formal interview under oath, called a deposition, will happen as part of this process. None of this happens quickly. Expect this to take a long time, even if you agree to a settlement before trial.
Your doctor had a duty to heal, not hurt you. Because he made serious mistakes you have been injured and need him to make good. You need an experienced medical malpractice lawyer on your side. Even though you want to move on with your life, a lawsuit takes time. The more people involved and the more complications the longer it will take. Your attorney will take care of the hard part so you can start putting the pieces back together.