MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
What is medical malpractice?
Medical malpractice is negligence by a medical professional that causes injury. Negligence in medical malpractice cases is defined as any breach of the standard of care that another reasonable, equally qualified medical professional would have provided. When a doctor's negligence (or a nurse's, dentist's, or other medical professional's negligence) leads to a patient injury that would otherwise not have occurred, then the doctor may be guilty of malpractice.
What is a "statute of limitations"?
The statute of limitations is a time period during which a lawsuit must be filed. Medical malpractice cases must be filed within two years of the time the claimant knew or should have known his/her injury was caused by medical malpractice. Filing your case before the statute of limitations expires is of paramount importance; if too much time passes your case may be barred. The statute of limitations is NOT the same for all types of cases. Therefore, if you believe that you have a medical malpractice, or other type of case, you should immediately contact an attorney to learn more about the statute of limitations that is relevant to your specific case.
Can I afford to hire an attorney?
In most cases, mecal malpractice lawyers do not charge any fees up front. Instead, you will be charged on a contingency fee basis, which means that if you win your case, the lawyer will be entitled to a percentage of your award.
Will you take my case?
This question must be answered on an individual basis, because so many factors can affect whether or not a medical malpractice case is successful. In general, you must be able to demonstrate two critical elements: negligence and causation. First, you must be able to show that the doctor or nurse did not adhere to the required standard of care. For example, if you are claiming that a misdiagnosis was made, you must be able to demonstrate that another physician would have been able to make a correct diagnosis. Then you must be able to show causation -- that the doctor's negligence was the direct cause of injury. In the case of misdiagnosis, you must be able to show that had the diagnosis been correct, the patient's injury could have been prevented. If you believe that you have a medical malpractice case, please contact us to schedule a consultation. At that time we will review the details of your case with you before making a decision about representation.