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Medical Malpractice Law Firms

Medical Malpractice Law Firms Medical malpractice is a common medical field that involves literally thousands of lawyers, all filing suit on behalf of patients that have been harmed at the hands of a licensed medical professional.  Despite the best efforts of state legislatures to limit medical malpractice claims and keep the costs of medical treatment down, malpractice claims remain as robust as ever, representing thousands of injured patients and millions of dollars’ worth of recovered damages.  Medical malpractice law firms help patients harmed through physician errors receive compensation for lost wages, medical expenses, suffering and other damages and losses sustained.

Who can be sued for medical malpractice?

Doctors as well as nurses and other staff in hospitals and doctor’s offices may be sued for malpractice.  Nurses can be sued for acting on a doctor’s orders if it can be proven that their professional experience and knowledge should have prevented them from carrying out orders from the doctor that will cause injury to the patient.  The medical malpractice law firm will help you determine who may be responsible for your injury.

What standard is applied to medical malpractice cases?

As the medical malpractice law firm will surely inform you, not every error and mistake is medical malpractice.  The courts will study the “standard of care” the medical professional has toward the patient as well as evaluate if a “reasonable person” (or reasonable doctor) would have made the same medical error.

What are the elements of a medical malpractice claim?

There are critical elements to making a medical malpractice claim.  Without these elements, a claim cannot be made for malpractice.  This prevents unnecessary litigation if a patient dies or is injured during a medical procedure and the death could not have been prevented.  Proper consent is a factor as well.  Informing the patient of the risks of the procedure or potential side effects will dissuade potential malpractice claims.

The prescribing of drugs can lead to a medical malpractice claim if there is a failure to warn the patient dangerous side effects related to the drug.  The failure to inform is a critical component to medical malpractice claims.

Misdiagnosing is another area of medical malpractice.  Failing to test a patient properly or failing to draw the appropriate conclusions from medical examination will be construed as malpractice if the patient’s condition worsens due to a failure to diagnose the ailment or potential ailment correctly.  The implication here is that a typical doctor would have been able to make the diagnosis.

The doctor must take adequate measures to anticipate risk factors and inform the patient of the potential risks of the medical procedure.  Carelessness or poor anticipation will be grounds for a malpractice claim.

What to tell your attorney

You need to be honest and truthful about the circumstances related to your injury.  You need to show evidence that the medical procedure is directly responsible for your injury and the injury is not a side effect or risk factor that the medical staff informed you prior to the procedure.  You will need to disclose all medications you were on, regardless of if they were part of the procedure or not.  Disclosing the drugs will help the medical malpractice law firm and the expert witness determine the role of the drugs in causing the injury.

Where to look for an attorney

Medical malpractice claims tend to be lucrative and there will be a great number of malpractice law firms advertising and promising “no-win, no-fee” arrangements.  You should not use malpractice law firm advertising as the sole source of your decision on legal representation.  Ensure that you evaluate the law firm’s record of professional conduct and policies regarding their clients before deciding on legal representation.

Using the Find Attorney function at the top of the page, you will be able to find a medical malpractice law firm to handle your case.

You may use state bar association directories or lawyer referral services as long as you note the listing criteria and fees related to lawyer referrals.

What services will I require when making a medical malpractice claim?

Expert witnesses are critical to making medical malpractice claims.  These witnesses are either practicing or retired medical professionals that provide expert witness services to medical malpractice law firms.  While you should verify that the expert witness is indeed an expert, may states will have passed stringent laws relating to the standards of expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases.

Tort reform and medical malpractice

Tort reform laws, aimed at stopping frivolous lawsuits can affect malpractice claims in a number of ways.  Some states have banned or limited punitive damages, which are assessed on doctors that are extraordinarily negligent in relation to the welfare of their patients.  Other states will impose strict limitations on the credentials of expert witnesses used against defendants.  

Some states prevent the lawsuit from being filing in counties that may be sympathetic to plaintiff claims, a practice called “jury shopping,” that restricts the lawsuit to the legal jurisdiction where the injury occurred.  

Rates, Fees & Retainers

Most medical malpractice firms will take cases on contingency, collecting no fees until damages are won from the lawsuit.  The fee will be a percentage share of the jury award ranging from 15-40%.  These lawyers will claim not to charge you unless they win your case, but be aware of other hidden fees for services rendered that lead up to the trial or settlement.  Some states will limit the percentage of the award that can be collected by the attorney and this will vary by state.  The fee arrangement may also be reviewed by the court if there will be an extraordinarily high payout.

You will have the option to use a retainer arrangement.  This arrangement sets up a billing account where the cost of legal services will be deducted.  This tends to be a pricey arrangement and uncommon for medical malpractice law firms.

You should note that there might be fees for communication with the medical malpractice law firm, the use of office staff and the composition and copying of legal documents.  Demand to have all fees in writing to prevent overbilling.

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