Can you sue for medical malpractice without a lawyer? If someone even tried, it's unlikely they would get beyond the first steps in the case without hitting insurmountable legal roadblocks. This is because medical malpractice lawsuits are some of the most complex in personal injury law.
These cases require extensive knowledge of both the law and medicine. Experienced medical malpractice attorneys are competent in both. If you've suffered an injury or lost a loved one due to medical malpractice, schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.
Proving Negligence in Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice involves any act or omission by a healthcare professional during the treatment of a patient that deviates from the accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes injury(s) to the patient. To prove medical malpractice, an attorney must demonstrate the following elements of negligence:
- A professional duty of care was owed to the patient
- A breach of said professional duty
- Injury caused by the duty breach
- A result of actual damages
Once negligence is established, economic losses and non-economic damages are factored in, and money can be negotiated and awarded in a settlement.
An exception to liability in medical malpractice cases involves state jurisdictions that have Good Samaritan laws. Good Samaritan laws protect bystanders who voluntarily assist in emergencies from being sued and prosecuted for unintentional injuries or wrongful death.
How a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Will Help You Recover Compensation
An experienced lawyer representing your legal interest in a medical malpractice lawsuit guarantees a sincere demand for a fair financial settlement in your claim. They will help secure compensation through case evaluation, gathering evidence, consulting medical experts, valuing damages, negotiating settlements, and representing you in court.
Protecting You Against Malpractice Insurance Companies
Medical malpractice insurers will sound like a concerned friend who has your best interests at heart. However, that couldn't be anything further from the truth. The entire purpose of a claims adjuster is to minimize their company's financial payouts. To do that, liable insurance parties will use tactics such as:
- Disputing liability
- Disputing the severity of injuries, pain, and suffering
- Use delaying tactics to frustrate victims into settling for less money
- Delaying or withholding information
- Offering low settlements that only cover the cost of copays
- Severely undervaluing claims
- Making threatening statements
- Denying insurance coverage
- Denying your claim without investigation
- Stalking social media for posts, they can twist into their incriminating narrative
- Asking you to sign a medical authorization of records release so they can look for anything they can assign symptoms to preexisting conditions
- Pressuring you to make a recorded statement
Finally, insurance companies will insist you do not need a medical malpractice lawyer to represent your legal interests. However, they know and understand that unrepresented malpractice victims are more likely to accept their first lowball settlement offer without negotiating for fair compensation.
Furthermore, they know that having an experienced attorney attached to the case means they will pay a considerably more significant sum. It benefits them to advise you against a lawyer. Once you obtain legal counsel, insurance companies are not allowed to contact you about the case.
Evaluating Case
Case evaluation is a critical first step in understanding the merits of your case and creating a plan to recover damages. Your medical malpractice attorney will listen to the details of your case with a compassionate and trained ear.
Gathering and Preserving Evidence
Gathering and preserving evidence in your medical malpractice lawsuit is necessary for proving negligence and actual losses. Examples of evidence in a medical malpractice lawsuit may include:
- Medical and hospital records
- Medical and rehabilitation bills
- Diagnostic test results
- Informed consent documentation
- Witness statements
- Expert testimony
- Your patient testimony
- Financial records documenting proof of losses
- Documentation of your pain and suffering (injury journal)
- Video or photographic evidence (surgeries are often recorded)
After gathering the evidence of your medical malpractice case, your lawyer will analyze the data before displaying it in a presentable manner for the insurer, judge, and jury.
Consulting Medical Experts
Medical malpractice lawyers will also use the help of experts to establish the monetary value of damages. Medical experts your lawyer may consult with include:
- Medical doctors and surgeons
- Hospital administrators
- Nurses
- Specialists
- Pharmacists
- Medical technicians
- Physical therapists
- Economy experts
- Vocational experts
Expert testimony goes a long way toward validating the need to compensate for injuries and other damages, including pain and suffering. Access to a lawyer's experts is invaluable if your case goes to trial.
Valuing Damages
Your attorney will consider economic and non-economic losses when valuing the damages in your medical malpractice suit. Typical damages you may seek compensation for involve:
- Medical and rehabilitation bills
- Future medical and rehab costs
- Disability costs (home and transportation modifications)
- Lost income (salary, benefits, and future earnings)
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Permanent impairment
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Psychological trauma
- Loss of consortium
You and your lawyer can prove actual damages with receipts, invoices, billing statements, and other financial documents showing monetary losses. To prove non-economic losses, an injury journal documenting their existence and expert testimony speaks measures.
Negotiating Settlements
A vital part of securing compensation is sending a demand letter and negotiating from there. Typically, insurers send an insultingly low offer in the first round. Your attorney will discuss all offers and advise whether you should take them or hold out for more. Ultimately, the decision is yours.
Representing Your Medical Malpractice Case at Trial
Most medical malpractice claims are settled outside of the courtroom with legal representation. However, your lawyer will represent you if your case moves to trial by:
- Filing the medical malpractice lawsuit
- Entering the discovery phase with info exchanges with the defense attorney(s)
- Presenting all evidence in an easily digestible way
- Calling expert testimony on your behalf
- Cross-examining defense witnesses
- Closing arguments
After closing arguments, your trial will move to jury deliberations. If you win, you will be awarded monetary compensation for your damages. If your attorney is unsuccessful in securing compensation for your medical malpractice injuries or wrongful death claim, you don't owe them anything.
Offering Contingency Arrangements
Most medical malpractice lawyers work in contingency fee arrangements, meaning there are no initial or ongoing costs. There's no reason to hire one who requires money upfront. Contingency arrangements allow anyone to obtain legal representation for their medical malpractice lawsuit.
Call A Medical Malpractice Attorney for Your Free Consultation
Schedule a free consultation with a Winder personal injury lawyer to evaluate your case today. This puts you in the best position to recover the justice and compensation you need.