Malpractice Litigation - An Overview

Malpractice litigations are nothing but malpractice lawsuits. A malpractice litigation procedure allows one to sue a professional, if he is caught in a malpractice case. However, the malpractice litigation process is a complex and time consuming one. Therefore, you should not take the medical malpractice case as a sure-shot lottery ticket worth millions. These personal injury cases prove to be very hard to win.

Since the time taken by medical malpractice cases is immense, the expenses incurred in preparation and presentation of the case through trial is a major concern for a lawyer and can be a factor in the decision by a lawyer to accept your case or not. Normally, medical malpractice lawyers work on contingency fees. After the resolution of the case, the lawyer is reimbursed for the expenses incurred on the trial and paid a certain percentage of the settlement as the fee.

The malpractice litigation process is a very expensive proposition for lawyers who have to collect the medical records, hire the medical experts for reviewing the records, writing reports, and testify as expert witnesses. Therefore there is no sense in pursuing a case that has a potential value of $50,000, if the expenses involved to pursue and to present the case is $20,000 or more.

This is one of the reasons that even small cases are not pursued, although the evidence of negligence in them is quite clear. One should not expect a malpractice litigation process to end quickly. Most cases undergo a trial before a jury bench before compensation can be awarded. This is because the insurance company, through which the doctor has covered himself under a malpractice insurance policy, cannot settle the case without the express consent of the doctor.

The doctor is not the one to judge the case. Therefore, the doctor is at more risk, if the case actually goes to trial. The concern for the doctor is more about the damage to his reputation for not providing the requisite care to patients, rather than accepting a settlement that implies malpractice.

If the malpractice case is really hard to win, the victims lawyer may ask the victim to put up at least part of the expense of the malpractice lawsuit as a contingency fee. This makes the case more economically viable for the lawyer and also results in making the client feel more involved in the process. If the case is strong, the lawyer may agree to front the cost himself.

This implies not only in the field of medical malpractice, but in other fields too such as legal malpractice. A medical professional can prevent a malpractice litigation process from going to court by following simple procedures. He should enhance the clarity of the notes provided to the patient and improve communication and fix lapses in patient services.

He must not indulge in non-clinical errors and add on a consent-to-settle clause prior to treatment of a patient.

Malpractice litigation is therefore not an easy process and relevant help from all possible quarters needs to be taken to increase the chances of winning a malpractice case.