A medical malpractice case can take a long time to resolve. Complex cases that involve difficult negotiations can take even longer.
While you may grow impatient as you wait for justice, the financial reward of settlement negotiations or trials is often worth the wait. Moreover, your medical malpractice lawyer in Cape Girardeau will work diligently to obtain your settlement or jury award as soon as possible.
What Determines How Long a Medical Malpractice Case Will Take?
Some medical malpractice cases may take less than a month to complete, while others may take years. Several factors can affect the timeline for resolving your medical malpractice case, including:
Whether Medical Professionals Accept Responsibility for Their Negligence
Providers and their attorneys know that medical malpractice can have significant financial consequences.
When faced with an allegation of negligence, these parties may:
- Claim that you are responsible for your injury, illness, or a loved one’s wrongful death
- Claim that the instance you allege as malpractice was simply an unfortunate, unavoidable situation
- Seek to avoid paying for your damages by any means possible
There are different degrees of fighting a medical malpractice claim. Some liable parties may fight relentlessly, thinking nothing of blaming the victim. These cases may prove a long fight, as the defendant may refuse to settle and force a medical malpractice lawyer to take the case to trial.
Medical errors are a leading cause of death in the United States, and non-fatal injuries and illnesses happen daily because of medical professionals’ failures. Yet, negligent individuals and organizations in the healthcare community do not always own up to their mistakes. This is one of many reasons you need the right legal representation from the beginning of the claim process.
The Strength of Evidence Supporting Your Medical Malpractice Case
The strength of evidence proving malpractice can determine how the defendant negotiates.
If there is convincing evidence of malpractice, the medical provider may realize that the trial presents a great financial risk. In that case, a jury may award a large financial recovery to the victim of malpractice. Therefore, liable parties may be motivated to settle, in which case the case may not take long to complete.
Whether Liable Parties Recognize Your Damages
Damages are at the heart of every medical malpractice lawsuit.
Depending on the nature of your case, you may:
- Be unable to work.
- Suffer significant psychological and emotional problems.
- Face a long road to recovery and costly medical expenses.
- Experience many other financial, psychological, emotional, and personal hardships that entitle you to compensation.
Your attorney will work to document these damages and tie them to the defendant’s malpractice. If liable parties acknowledge your damages, negotiations may have a greater chance of success.
The Cost of Your Damages
Even if liable parties recognize your damages, they may disagree about how much they cost. Medical errors cost about $20 billion per year, which speaks to how expensive a single malpractice case can be.
Your attorney will work to obtain concrete proof of your damages. This way, liable parties may be less likely to claim that your damages are embellished. If your lawyer and liable parties agree (even approximately) on the cost of your damages, they may negotiate a settlement and avoid the cost and time of trial.
Each medical malpractice case comes with its own host of challenges. Your attorney will seek to obtain the money you are entitled to as quickly as possible, but you should never expect a quick resolution. The most important consideration is that you get a fair financial recovery, no matter how long the insurance and legal processes take.
Is There Any Way to Speed Up the Resolution of a Medical Malpractice Case?
An attorney can only control factors that are within their control.
They will reduce delays on your end of the case by:
- Relying on their entire legal team to prepare your case
- Securing evidence as quickly as possible
- Completing all paperwork efficiently
- Insisting that negotiations take place as soon as possible
- Keeping pressure on insurance companies and courts to move your case forward in a timely manner
Only so much falls within a lawyer’s control, though. An insurance company may intentionally delay your claim, perhaps to have you accept a lowball settlement. Courts are also notoriously slow-moving, and there is only so much a medical malpractice attorney can do to speed the process up.
If you hire a law firm with a strong reputation for client service, they’ll do everything possible to resolve your case as quickly as possible.
How Do I Know If I Have a Medical Malpractice Case?
If you are the victim of negligence by a medical professional or organization, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice case.
Negligence in the medical field happens when:
- A medical professional owes you a duty of care: Every medical professional owes their patient a duty of care, and the same duty applies to hospitals and other medical providers. This duty of care requires the medical providers to act reasonably at all times and prioritize the patient’s safety and well-being.
- A medical professional (or their employer) violates their duty of care: When a medical provider does not act as a reasonable person (such as another doctor) should act in the same circumstances, they violate their duty of care.
- The duty of care violation harms you: If the medical provider’s unreasonable action causes harm, including an injury, they become responsible for the cost of that harm.
When medical malpractice occurs, the victim almost always suffers damages. Though damages are unique to each victim, the presence of damages requires legal action. A victim of medical malpractice deserves compensation for their damages, so many victims hire a lawyer to pursue a financial recovery.
Common Examples of Medical Malpractice
The medical profession creates countless examples of malpractice. Most cases involve negligence by a specific medical provider (like a doctor or nurse) or a medical institution (like a hospital or doctor’s office).
Examples of Malpractice by Hospitals and Other Employers
Medical institutions serve as the first layer of protection for patients.
You can hold these organizations negligent when:
- They fail to conduct due diligence into the background of prospective employees
- They hire employees despite being aware of past instances of negligence
- They fail to properly monitor employees (including doctors) for drug use, alcohol use, and other instances of malpractice
- They fail to discipline (and terminate, when appropriate) employees who endanger patients or engage in other sanctionable actions
- They fail to maintain a clean environment
- They don’t properly train employees
- They don’t replace outdated or defective medical equipment
- They understaffed a facility to save money
Negligence by medical institutions leads to new or worsening illnesses, injuries, disabilities, and wrongful deaths. Your lawyer will identify any negligence by a medical facility that harmed you or a loved one.
Examples of Malpractice by Doctors and Other Medical Professionals
Even if a medical institution honors its duties to the patient, a negligent medical employee can cause immense harm.
You can hold a doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, or other medical professional responsible for:
- Failing to diagnose a condition or waiting to issue a diagnosis
- Misdiagnosing a condition
- Committing a surgical error
- Failing to warn the patient about the dangers of a treatment course
- Misdiagnosing a medication
- Causing a birth injury
- Operating while intoxicated, under the influence of drugs, tired, or otherwise impaired
- Engaging in any other act that causes harm to the patient
Failures to act can also qualify as negligence, such as failing to order medical imaging that can reveal a medical condition.
A Medical Professional’s Negligence Has Harmed You. Here’s What to Do.
If you experienced medical hardship or lost a loved one because of medical malpractice, make your recovery priority number one.
Make sure that you:
- Seek a clear diagnosis for preexisting and new medical conditions and symptoms.
- Request medical imaging and clear diagnoses, as you should document every malpractice-related symptom in as much detail as possible.
- Follow a doctor’s recommendations, including avoiding stress, getting ample rest, and taking certain medications.
- Keep records for all of your diagnostics and treatment.
These steps will place you in the best position for full recovery or at least maximum recovery. These measures may also benefit any medical malpractice lawsuit you choose to pursue.
Hire a Lawyer to Seek Justice for Medical Malpractice
The cost of medical malpractice is often greater than a victim can pay. Even if you can financially cover the economic and non-economic fallout from medical malpractice, you shouldn’t have to.
Hiring a medical malpractice lawyer allows an experienced legal counselor to fight justice on your behalf.
Reasons to Hire an Attorney for a Medical Malpractice Case
Some of the most important reasons to hire a medical malpractice attorney include:
- The financial support a lawyer provides, as he/she will cover the cost of completing your lawsuit and won’t require any out-of-pocket payment from you
- A lawyer’s experience, legal training, and knowledge of the legal process are priceless when you’re pursuing a lawsuit
- A lawyer’s knowledge of medical malpractice, which may arise from a history of representing victims of medical negligence
- Your health may suffer if you try to lead your own lawsuit
- Your time, which may be limited as you focus on recovery and personal matters
For many malpractice victims, the choice to hire a lawyer is obvious. Injuries, illnesses, and wrongful deaths often leave little room in a person’s life—and certainly, not enough bandwidth to manage the many demands of a lawsuit.
You Face the Cost of Medical Malpractice, so Why Not Make the Liable Parties Cover That Cost?
If you cannot secure compensation through a medical malpractice lawsuit, the cost of your damages will fall on your shoulders.
These damages may include:
- Rising healthcare premiums, which may result from the various medical procedures and services you need after an instance of malpractice
- Medical bills
- Lost income
- Diminished earning power
- Pain and suffering
- Psychological treatment for pain and suffering
Medical malpractice can kill a patient.
If your loved one passed away because of negligence by a medical provider, your recoverable damages may include:
- Funeral costs
- Loss of spousal companionship and comfort
- Loss of parental guidance
- Grief and other types of pain and suffering
- Funeral costs
- Loss of the decedent’s income and household services
A medical malpractice lawyer will be ready to lead either a personal injury or wrongful death case for you.
How a Medical Malpractice Attorney Can Assist with Your Medical Malpractice Case
Your malpractice injury lawyer should:
- Gather malpractice-related evidence as soon as possible: Your attorney will seek witness testimony, medical records, expert testimony, and any other evidence that helps prove medical malpractice.
- Document your economic and non-economic damages: Relying on medical records and bills, expert accounts, employment records, and other documentation, your lawyer will prove how much medical malpractice has cost you.
- Set a target for settlement negotiations: Your attorney will calculate the value of a fair settlement when they have identified all of your damages.
- Complete negotiations: An attorney is also your negotiator. They will meet with insurers or other liable parties to demand the settlement you are entitled to receive.
- Proceed to court, if necessary: If settlement negotiations do not produce the financial recovery you deserve, your lawyer may advise you to let them take your case to trial.
Each case comes with unique challenges and responsibilities. Your lawyer will guide you, handle all case-related responsibilities, and fight for your settlement or judgment.
Research Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Your Area Today, and Don’t Wait
Jacob D. Lawrence, Medical Malpractice Attorney
Medical malpractice cases typically have filing deadlines. Don’t wait to find a law firm with a proven success record handling malpractice claims and hire personal injury attorney in Cape Girardeau for your case. Consultations are free, so you have nothing to lose by starting today.