medical malpractice attorneys and process. (insurance, lawyer, compensation)

[SP-NC]

I thought I would start here. I appreciate your suggestions/feedback as planning to sue my doctor that resulted in very bad situation. thankfully I am alive but Doctor needs to learn lesson.

attorneys that can help or what experiences I should expect out of this process. I was not even thinking about this, some friends strongly suggested that Doctor/Practice needs to learn lesson and at least prevent this from happening to other patients.

[m378]

Without knowing the exact situation, it's hard to give advice. I think suing someone solely to teach someone a lesson can be a costly endeavor.

[wizard-xyzzy]

The question is likely to be, what damages did you suffer as a result of the alleged malpractice and what is the likelihood that you can recover those damages in part or in full. Without a strong case in that respect, filing a lawsuit is likely to get you nothing. It is certain that the doctor will be aggressively defended by lawyers from the doctor's insurance company. If your case is weak, it will be nothing more than an inconvenience to the doctor in question. A plaintiff's lawyer can advise you on how weak or strong your case appears to be.

The alternative is to file a complaint with the NC Medical Board, which regulates the practice of medicine in this state. If you have no damages that would trigger financial compensation, this is really your only avenue. https://www.ncmedboard.org/resources...aqs/complaints

[wake74]

This being the good 'ol USA, you can sue anyone for any reason, it's just a matter of time and money. It doesn't mean you will win. While I've had various levels of involvement in several legal matters, none of them are medical thankfully. Unless you have a good case, with a decent chance of winning a large verdict, I can't imagine any "decent" lawyer taking it on contingency. Contingency, meaning they do it for "free", and then take some percent of the verdict, 30-50% I'd guess. If you are going the typical non-contingency, time and expenses route, be prepared for sticker shock on the legal fees if you haven't dealt with lawyers in the past. I would guess $10k would hardly cover the getting to know each other phase, and spending $50-100k would not be hard at all if it actually goes to trial.

I have no idea how the world of the hanging out in the ER, ambulance chaser lawyers works. Maybe they take on pretty much any case, and just play the odds that they occasionally find a winner.

Good luck!

[twingles]

You're not going to teach the doctor a lesson unless you have a case that surpasses his policy limits on his malpractice insurance policy. And if you had to be told by your friends YOU SHOULD SUE! chances are that scenario is HIGHLY unlikely. The vast majority of people who are sued never think about it again once they receive the summons and complaint and hand if off to their insurance company. If your 'injury" were so egregious you wouldn't be asking these questions in a public forum, you'd be hearing from the ambulance chasers.

[cchampagne232000]

Originally Posted by wake74

This being the good 'ol USA, you can sue anyone for any reason, it's just a matter of time and money. It doesn't mean you will win. While I've had various levels of involvement in several legal matters, none of them are medical thankfully. Unless you have a good case, with a decent chance of winning a large verdict, I can't imagine any "decent" lawyer taking it on contingency. Contingency, meaning they do it for "free", and then take some percent of the verdict, 30-50% I'd guess. If you are going the typical non-contingency, time and expenses route, be prepared for sticker shock on the legal fees if you haven't dealt with lawyers in the past. I would guess $10k would hardly cover the getting to know each other phase, and spending $50-100k would not be hard at all if it actually goes to trial.

I have no idea how the world of the hanging out in the ER, ambulance chaser lawyers works. Maybe they take on pretty much any case, and just play the odds that they occasionally find a winner.

Good luck!

Almost all med mal cases are taken on contingency typically 33%.

[goldenblade]

Most med mal cases turn out not to be worth anything; just because an outcome was bad, it doesn't mean the treatment fell below the standard of care. I recommend that you contact a firm that specializes in med mal, such as the Law Office of James Scott Farrin or Henson Fuerst. They'll get your preliminary info and see if your case warrants further investigation. If you get a letter turning down your case, that means it's fruitless. In NC you also must have an expert in the field who is willing to testify that malpractice occurred. That makes it even harder to have a successful case.

[DPK]

Originally Posted by SP-NC

Doctor needs to learn lesson.

attorneys that can help or what experiences I should expect out of this process. I was not even thinking about this, some friends strongly suggested that Doctor/Practice needs to learn lesson and at least prevent this from happening to other patients.

Well this will surely end well. /sarcasm

[JONOV]

Originally Posted by cchampagne232000

Almost all med mal cases are taken on contingency typically 33%.

Right, but they have to decide to take the case. If they think its a weak case it won't get taken at all.

[SP-NC]

thank you all for your feedback and sarcasm :-)
We are realizing that Dentist may not have done anything wrong it just that things went wrong that day and after following with so many doctors and ER doctors no one knows for sure what could have triggered that event. If I pursue this case would have some substance to it but I am going to give dentist benefit of doubts.