2 Things You Should Know About Filling A Lawsuit Against A Doctor

Posted on: 17 May 2017

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If you have had a bad experience with a doctor or a medical professional you might be wondering if you could file a personal injury lawsuit against that person. Medical malpractice lawsuits are common, and in some cases, they provide a lot of financial relief to the affected party. However, before you file a lawsuit you need to consider a couple things. Here are some tips.

Have You Talked To The Hospital Or Doctor First?

In many cases you can resolve the problem without taking legal action. Filing a lawsuit is expensive and takes a good deal of time. Ideally, you should resolve it on your own, and only use lawsuits as a last resort.

Once the problem has happened you should go straight to the hospital and file a grievance with them. Let them know that you are unhappy with the treatment and that you are considering filing a lawsuit. Give them the chance to meet you halfway. They may pull you in for a meeting with their legal team and offer you a settlement to avoid a lawsuit. If the settlement is reasonable, and helps to cover your costs you should take it. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that if they are offering you a settlement it means that the lawsuit is worth lots more money. In most cases, the settlement would be reasonable and about what you would get with the lawsuit, but it saves both of you money in legal fees.

Was There Neglect and Fault From The Doctor?

There are many cases where your treatment doesn't go how you planned. This is unfortunate, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you have a lawsuit. In order to be able to file a lawsuit you have to be able to prove that the doctor acted recklessly. Without that, you don't have a lawsuit. You can't sue the hospital or doctor because you don't like the result of the treatment. Instead, you have to show that the treatment that you received went against the ethical code, or that the professional acted unreasonable towards you. If you can show that other doctors would have not done the same thing, or if the doctor went against protocol, then you might have a good lawsuit on your hands.

This is why it is best to make sure that you meet with an attorney such as Shaevitz Shaevitz & Kotzamanis about your options before you make any decisions. They will help you know if you have a merited medical malpractice lawsuit.