There are some basic points that good medical malpractice lawyers want you to know.
THERE IS A LOT OF MALPRACTICE OUT THERE.
Medicine is an art, not a science. Sometimes, even in the best hands, there will be a bad outcome. But a bad outcome is often the result of a medical mistake. Today’s medicine, especially in the hospital setting, is so complicated and involves so many people attempting to work in unison, that avoidable medical mistakes are an everyday occurrence. Many studies have concluded that medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death in the United States. If you or a loved one end up with a bad result, you owe it to yourself to ask some questions and make sure that it was not due to medical malpractice.
NO ONE IS GOING TO TELL YOU THERE WAS MALPRACTICE.
In spite of an ethical obligation to be honest with patients, it is extremely rare for a health care provider to admit that he or she made a mistake that caused you harm. There will usually be many people around the patient who know that the patient was injured by malpractice, but for various reasons, they will almost always keep their mouths shut. Nurses may fear retaliation from the doctor, if she reports his mistake. Doctors may not want to get involved by ratting out their colleagues. Hospitals may want to protect their assets and not want to let you know that one or more of their nurses was responsible for your bad result. No matter the reason, you will almost always have to discover the truth on your own. You will need help.
THE SOONER YOU ACT THE BETTER.
Every state has a statute of limitations for medical malpractice. In Arizona, it is generally two years. Although there are exceptions that may extend the time period, you should never count on them. There are also some instances in which the time to make a claim is as short as 180 days. If you miss the deadline for making or filing a claim, your case is lost before it even begins. A good malpractice lawyer is going to investigate your case before filing and that investigation may take as much as three months. If you wait until just before the deadline to contact a lawyer, you may find no one wants to take your case because you have not given them enough time to do what they need to do.
DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME WRITING LETTERS TO THE DOCTOR OR HOSPITAL BEFORE CONSULTING A LAWYER.
Doctors and hospitals win 85% to 90% of malpractice cases that go to trial and they know it. It is not like an auto accident case in which a lay person can often negotiate with the insurance company and settle the case on her own. Medical malpractice cases are a cutthroat business with lots of traps for the unwary. At worst, by sending letters you may damage your case. At best, you will have wasted valuable time in a fruitless exercise. If you think you may have a claim, get down to business and consult a lawyer.
EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCE MATTER.
There are many lawyers out there who claim to be able to handle medical malpractice claims but have no idea what they are doing. I know. I encountered plenty of them when I was representing doctors and hospitals many years ago. It was like taking candy from a baby. A good medical malpractice lawyer must be able to read and understand complicated medical records, be able to understand the medicine and the terms medical professionals use in communicating with each other (Watch The Pitt sometime and listen to the slang they use), be able to locate and finance the retention of high quality expert witnesses, know all of the special rules that apply only to malpractice cases, be able to cross-examine defendant doctors and their experts, be able to put a case together and properly evaluate it, and be able to try the case, if necessary. Failure in any one of those areas will doom a case.
YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT.
As soon as you hire a medical malpractice lawyer, she or he begins to make decisions that often cannot be undone or changed. This is especially true once suit is filed. One of the first important decisions is the retention of expert witnesses. Their opinions guide everything the lawyer does from that point on. A good malpractice lawyer will get his or her experts lined up before filing suit. If the expert does not have the proper qualifications, she or he will not be permitted to testify and your case may be lost. The complaint that begins the suit will lay out much of the theory of the case. It will name the defendants and it better name all of them or you may find that your lawyer failed to sue the most responsible parties and it is too late to add them now. Soon after suit is filed, one or more preliminary affidavits of merit must be served. These will describe the alleged fault of the defendants. If, at some point, you decide you made a mistake and want to change lawyers, the further along the case is, the harder it is for a new lawyer to come in and rescue it. Many decisions are made early in cases that are hard to change later. For better or worse you may find that you are stuck with the attorney you chose to begin with. Make that choice a good one.
