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FAQ's About Medical Malpractice
1. What is medical malpractice?
It is very difficult to summarize this entire field, but, generally speaking, medical malpractice occurs when a doctor does not conform to the standard of care in his or her field. Medical malpractice can have many other permutations as well and can involve product liability claims and even touch the law involving the Employment Retirement Income Security Act. Clifford Rieders has written a whole book on this subject, which is a leading text used in Pennsylvania for lawyers who work in the medical malpractice field.
2. How easy or difficult is it to pursue a medical malpractice case?
Medical malpractice cases, like all litigation, must be taken seriously. We take only those cases which we believe are legitimate and which are substantial. Substantial does not always mean in terms of money, and certainly there can be very important principles that are involved in many cases. However, it must be understood that medical malpractice cases, like many others, involve the use of experts and are very costly. Expert witnesses are not required in every medical malpractice case but for most cases, they are.
3. What do I have to pay, or is everything covered by the contingent fee system?
We have a variety of different ways of handling this matter, and it depends upon the case. Sometimes the costs and fees are contingent upon the outcome. This means that the client does not have to pay anything unless and until we are successful in settlement or verdict. If we fail, the client pays nothing. However, there are some cases where, at least in the investigatory stages, we expect the client to give us some money to pay for records or for an expert physician to look at the matter or for some other purpose. There are even cases where we offer to our clients the option of paying us on an hourly basis. We believe in discussing everything involving costs, fees and money up front. Clients should never be afraid to ask those questions, and we always have a written fee agreement which we explain to our clients.
4. What can be accomplished in a medical malpractice case?
Many clients ask us if they can take away a negligent doctor's license to practice medicine. Medical malpractice cases can often require that settlements and verdicts be kept track of in the National Data bank and some state agencies as well. The courts in civil cases generally only give money to the injured party. This office has trail blazed settlements where defendants have agreed to hire neutral evaluators, change the way they do business, and enhance their training of doctors and para-medical staff. We are certainly willing to look into that in any case and discuss it with our clients. We are also working for changes in the law where courts could grant injunctions and other relief in addition to money damages.
5. How long will my case take?
Litigation can be relatively quick when the parties involved are amicable, or it can take several years. How long a case takes also depends upon the attitude of the doctor or the insurance company, the demands of the victim and whether appeals or trials are required.
6. Will my case settle?
There are national statistics showing that between 88 and 90% of cases settle. This may or may not be true in any particular case. However, statistics may be good for a whole group of cases, but each case has its own set of facts. Whether cases settle depends upon many factors. Some of those factors are the needs of the victim, the intransigence or cooperation of the person or hospital being sued, the judges involved, and a host of other factors.
7. What is my case worth?
The value of cases depends upon factors such as how strong the case is; whether there are wage losses and, if so, how much; whether there is a loss in the future wage horizon; pain and suffering; medical bills; procedures which may occur or may be required in the future; and many, many other factors. Oftentimes in cases, we hire economists, actuaries, pension experts, life care planners, and other people who help us formulate what the damages in a particular case may be. The value of cases is affected by whether the victim has any responsibility or culpability and by the degree of misconduct on the part of the defendant doctor or hospital.
8. Who gets sued?
This depends upon who is responsible. Sometimes only the doctor or a nurse is sued. Sometimes only the employer of a doctor or a nurse is sued. There are many different doctrines in the law that control this decision. Hospitals or other employers may be responsible based upon the fact that they employ the person who is negligent. Then again, the hospital or company may be responsible for its own negligence, sometimes called "corporate negligence". A hospital or company may be responsible because it appears, by its actions, to employ another whom it does not actually employ. This is called "apparent agency". As one can see, there are many different laws, doctrines and cases which control this particular decision.
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