Medical malpractice can occur thousands of ways, but the end result is where things get tricky. Maybe your doctor performed a surgery and left something inside you, or perhaps failed to diagnose a life-changing or life-threatening condition. Maybe your doctor negligently prescribed opioid painkillers to you, leading to an addiction to opioids. Maybe your doctor prescribed a medication that presented serious dangerous side effects.
These are only some of the many ways medical malpractice might occur. If you believe that you suffered medical malpractice, what are you going to do about it? You may have more options than you realize, but you won’t know until you take action and start the wheels turning toward justice.
In most instances of medical malpractice, the victim chooses to work with an experienced medical malpractice attorney. An attorney serves as the first line of defense between you and your medical care provider, ensuring that the party or parties who harmed you takes your needs and losses seriously. An attorney can ensure you examine the specifics of your medical experience to create a personalized strategy for pursuing a just resolution.
Where to begin
Usually, the wisest place to start is to reach out to the individual or care provider you believe is responsible for your injury. If a doctor makes a surgical mistake, for example, in many cases, that doctor is more than willing to correct the mistake.
Sometimes, you get lucky and the care provider is eager and willing to fix the issue without a hassle. Unfortunately, not all cases go this direction. Instead, many medical care providers either try to pass the buck or claim they are innocent altogether. Do not lose heart; there are still plenty of options.
If the medical care provider does not want to address the issue fairly, consider reaching out to whichever medical licensing board governs the area of medicine the offending medical care provider practices. The board generally does not order the provider to pay damages to you directly, but they can reprimand the provider in other ways and help you get a clear vision for the next few steps.
Build your case carefully
In order to prevail in a medical malpractice suit, you must demonstrate that the actions of your care provider were negligent or harmful, and that those actions (or inaction) directly caused or contributed to the harm you suffered.
To win your case or secure a fair settlement, you must build this case very carefully, but you may not have very long to do so. Each state maintains specific statutes of limitations on how long a patient has to file a claim against a practitioner.
Your case may take many paths before it reaches a satisfying conclusion. Be sure that you surround yourself with a talented team of professionals who can help carry the load and guide you toward a fair, just resolution to your malpractice experience.
