If you’re hurt because of a doctor’s negligence, you have a cause of action and a remedy under the law. With the help of a medical malpractice lawyer, you can file a complaint in court, sue your medical provider for damages, and hopefully recover those damages so that you can be made whole. It doesn’t undo the harm that you suffered, nor will it necessarily prevent similar accidents from happening in the future, but it is a way for you to get justice for a wrong you experienced.
Unfortunately, medical malpractice claims are notoriously hard to win. But why is this the case? And how can you increase your chances of winning?
The Basics of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is a somewhat complex area of the law. Theoretically, it’s typically considered a form of negligence. Negligence is a breach of duty of care that results in harm to another party. We usually think about negligence in the context of personal injury cases, such as car accidents, in which one person takes an action or makes an omission that creates unnecessary risk or deviates from acceptable standards of conduct.
The same concept is applied to the medical world with medical malpractice. When a doctor or another medical provider deviates from reasonable standards of care in a way that causes harm in another individual, they commit medical malpractice and they will be held liable for any damages resulting from that malpractice.
There are many types of medical malpractice for which you can sue, including misdiagnosis, lack of diagnosis, prescription errors, surgical errors, birth injuries, and much more.
Why Medical Malpractice Claims Are Hard to Win
Why is it that medical malpractice claims are so hard to win?
- Trust in medical personnel. Outcomes of medical malpractice cases are largely dependent on jury decisions and judge decisions. Most medical malpractice claims settle out of court, but even those settlements are often guided by case outcomes. Because the average person has a high degree of trust in medical personnel, cases are typically biased in the medical expert’s favor from the beginning. People are much more likely to believe that a doctor made a perfectly reasonable mistake than they are to believe a doctor breached their duty of care to a patient.
- Burden of proof. Proving that a doctor made an unreasonable mistake or took an unreasonable action is harder than it may seem. There is considerable leeway in how professionals practice medicine, because the field is so complex and up to personal discretion. For example, if a patient shows a host of symptoms that could be diagnosed as any number of different disorders, a doctor is not unreasonable when they choose the most likely option among those disorders, even if it’s wrong. Establishing that a reasonable, typical doctor would have made a different decision is sometimes very challenging.
- The battle of experts. When trying to prove an unreasonable mistake, plaintiffs usually seek the help of an expert witness, who can provide their own medical opinions and insights. However, opposing counsel can also hire an expert witness to say the opposite. A courtroom “battle of experts” occurs when these expert witnesses testify for and against a given idea, often cancelling each other out or unnecessarily complicating the matter.
- Access to resources. Cases are also hard to win in this area because doctors, hospitals, and other medical professionals and institutions have deep pockets. They will be able to hire expert legal counsel and dump innumerable resources into resolving this matter in their favor.
- Settlements and negotiations. Most medical malpractice claims settle out of court, and the settlement negotiation process isn’t always straightforward. In many cases, plaintiffs will be practically forced to accept a settlement because it simply doesn’t make any sense to move forward.
How to Increase Your Chances of Winning a Medical Malpractice Claim
How do you increase your chances of winning a medical malpractice claim?
- Collect as much evidence as possible. The better you can strengthen your claim, the better your chances of victory.
- Hire the best medical malpractice lawyer you can. A good lawyer can maximize your chances of winning a favorable settlement.
- Don’t inform your medical providers. Keep your legal action quiet until absolutely necessary to reveal it.
- Be willing to negotiate. The right negotiation strategies can help you build a stronger foundation.
- Be willing to go to trial. Very few medical malpractice claims make it to trial. If you’re willing to face that potential outcome, you’ll have a much stronger negotiating position.
- Try to remain patient. This is a long process, so don’t try to rush it.
Even with all these strategies in your favor, and the facts on your side, it may prove challenging to win your medical malpractice claim. Even so, you owe it to yourself to seek justice for the harm you suffered.