When Should I Call A Medical Malpractice Attorney?

It’s medical malpractice when a health care professional (doctor, nurse, physician’s assistant, physical therapist, etc.) makes a mistake that causes an injury. To be considered a mistake, the practitioner needs to do something that is not in line with the acceptable standard of care for their specialty. If it was possible to sue for every little mistake and for trivial injuries, the courts would be clogged and there would be lots of vacant seats in medical school. The rumor that there are many frivolous malpractice cases is false. Due to the high cost of this type of litigation, only the strongest cases with the most serious injuries are prosecuted.



YOU NEED “SLAM DUNK” NEGLIGENCE

Medical malpractice cases are very expensive to prosecute because they can rarely be settled without the expense of hiring doctors to testify as expert witnesses. That’s why medical malpractice attorneys will only retain cases that have strong evidence of negligence. For example, an instrument left inside a patient during an operation has to be a mistake, so it is not difficult to prove negligence. It’s less clearly a mistake when a patient has a stroke during or after surgery, as some procedures carry these risks even if the doctors do them perfectly. When a doctor is accused of failing to diagnose a condition, it must also be shown that the patient would have benefited an earlier diagnosis. If a patient with a very serious illness dies, it’s not easy to prove that patient would not have died anyway. If you believe your practitioner has done something wrong, the first step is to get a second opinion, preferably from somebody that’s not in the same professional circle, even if it means going to another town. If the second practitioner believes you have been a victim of negligent care, you should consider calling a medical malpractice attorney for a consultation.

YOU NEED TO HAVE A SERIOUS PERMANENT INJURY

Due to the cost of medical malpractice litigation, it’s only financially viable to bring cases where a person has suffered a serious permanent injury that could result in a large money damages award. So if the doctor left the instrument inside the patient, but there was no infection and it was a simple matter to remove it, the damage is small. This threshold for damages is a bitter pill for people that have suffered greatly from a doctor’s mistake but have fully recovered. If you believe you’ve been a victim of a medical practitioner’s negligence, and that’s you’ve been seriously and permanently harmed, that’s when you should call a medical malpractice attorney.

For more information on Why You Should Call a Medical Malpractice Attorney, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (855) 451-1260 today.