Medical Malpractice

In any profession, mistakes are made. But when it comes to practicing medicine, there can be very little room or allowance for a code of silence that protects those who have erred. Doctors must be encouraged, and allowed, to speak out against their fellow practitioners without fear of reprisal or repercussion. Transparency would increase the quality of care, and restore some of the faith the medical profession has lost among laymen. Malpractice must be addressed…

Advancements in medicine have led to some miraculous discoveries and treatments, but even the latest technology can have devastating side effects. In a recent medical malpractice case involving robotic-assisted surgery, a 65-year-old male patient experienced a tragic outcome. Robotic Procedures for Prostate Cancer Laparoscopic prostatectomy (surgical removal of the prostate gland) is a common treatment for prostate cancer, and the da Vinci prostatectomy is one of the latest procedures being offered to these patients. Its…

Question: What are the costs and attorneys’ fees associated with a medical malpractice lawsuit? Susan: Medical malpractice cases can be very costly to prosecute. We are talking tens of thousands of dollars. And the attorney will pay these costs and be reimbursed at the end of the lawsuit if we are successful. But the biggest cost I think in any medical malpractice case is expert witnesses. A doctor to simply review medical records can charge…

Question: What will happen after the medical malpractice lawsuit is filed? Susan: A process called discovery occurs. And basically what discovery is, it’s where the attorneys will engage in various practices to determine the facts of the case that will be presented at trial. The attorneys will exchange written questions; those are called Interrogatories. And the client will have to answer some written questions under oath. There is also something called a Request to Produce,…

Question: How do I choose an attorney to investigation a potential malpractice claim? Susan: That’s a good question. Medical malpractice is a very distinct and specialized type of law. You want to choose an experienced medical malpractice attorney — an attorney who deals with these types of cases and who has handled these cases in the past. Most law firms now have websites and you can go to the website of the law firm and…

Question: If I think I have been a victim of medical malpractice, what should I do? Susan: I think it’s a good idea to begin documenting. Document what happened. Document everything that happens after the malpractice. Dates of surgery, lab results, if you have a CT scan, the results of the CT scan. Document the names of the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers involved. Question: Times, places of conversations? Susan: Absolutely. And you may…

Question: Should I consider a medical malpractice lawsuit if I have had a bad result? Susan: It depends; a bad result may or may not indicate medical malpractice. Simply because a patient experiences a complication, that does not necessarily mean that there has been malpractice. A bad outcome may be what prompts the client to contact an attorney, but further investigation needs to be done to determine if in fact there was malpractice. The only…

That’s the headline of a recent front-page story in USA Today (March 8-10, 2013). The newspaper reports that doctors sew up patients with mistaken objects inside more than a dozen times a day – the most common being sponges, needles and instruments. The story talks about a woman who had to undergo six hours of emergency surgery in Alabama to remove a sponge the size of a washcloth that was left during her C-section. It…