How Do I Find A Medical Malpractice Lawyer Is Important Question

How Do I Find a Medical Malpractice Lawyer?

Brien Roche

How do I find a medical malpractice lawyer is a difficult question to answer. Probably the best place to start is with friends and family. In particular if they have previously retained a malpractice lawyer in the locale where you are. Ask those friends or family if they were satisfied with the services of that lawyer. If so it probably makes sense to contact that attorney. See if that attorney is willing to take on your matter. Also you must decide if you’re interested in having that lawyer take on your matter.

How Do I Find A Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Be Answered At Lawyers.com

Another worthy source for investigation is lawyers.com. This is a site that is maintained by a company by the name of Martindale Hubbell. Martindale Hubbell is the premiere lawyer rating service in the country. The site that they maintain is known as www.lawyers.com. You can go to that site and plug in the geographical locale where the malpractice occurred. Also they need the particular specialty that you’re looking for. That specialty in this case would be medical malpractice. The results page should show several different lawyers in that locale. The advantage of using a site managed by a company like Martindale Hubbell is that this company rates lawyers. The rating is based upon peer reviews. What that means is that attorneys in that locale rate attorneys that they know. The ratings system is anonymous. So one attorney doesn’t know that other attorneys are providing such ratings.

The rating system maintained by Martindale Hubbell is not fool-proof but it is probably the best ratings system that exists. Lawyers are rated A, B or C with A being the best.

Another source for finding an attorney is to simply go to one of the local bar associations. Most local bar associations have referral services for attorneys. This type of referring system is probably not as good as the one maintained by Martindale Hubbell. However many of these local bar association referral services are quite good.

Of course there always exists the option of simply keying in your own search terms to your computer and seeing what comes up. Call, or contact us for a free consult.

How Do I Find A Medical Malpractice Lawyer-Making The Right Choice

In terms of actually choosing an attorney there are probably several factors that you may want to consider in that regard. Certainly the experience level of the attorney is an important consideration. Most attorneys don’t keep score as to how many cases they handle. Nor do they keep score as to how many cases they win or lose. However those are appropriate questions to ask. The attorney’s website may have some information as to what kind of results the attorney has gotten. Of course you need to keep in mind that results in one case do not predict what may happen in another case.

Most attorneys that handle medical malpractice cases will first want to review the records relating to the case. Based on that a preliminary decision may be made as to whether or not it appears that there is a case. These cases can be extremely expensive to pursue. Most attorneys handle these types of cases on a contingent fee basis. That means that the attorney is putting his time at risk and may not get paid unless they produce results. Some attorneys will advance costs in cases like this. However other attorneys require that the client pay for the costs of the litigation. The costs associated with the litigation primarily relate to the hiring of expert witnesses. It is necessary in most malpractice cases to retain an expert witness to testify on behalf of the plaintiff. Sometimes there may be a need for more than one expert witness.
These are all appropriate considerations in choosing an attorney to handle your malpractice case.

In A Medical Malpractice Case Who Is Potentially Liable Is A Question That Must Be Answered Early

For instance in an emergency room case you may think the doctors are hospital employees. Frequently they are not. They may be employees of another company. This other company may have a contract with the hospital. The contract governs the services offered in the ER. Therefore if you sue the hospital for the fault of the ER doctors you may have sued the wrong entity.

The same situation may aply to radiology, pathology, anesthesiology and any of the other services offered by the hospital. Frequently all of these doctors are employed by an entity independent of the hospital. One way to determine who employs the doctor is to look at the bill rendered.The bill will state the name of the provider and the entity with whom she is connected.

You have to pinpoint the name of the entity that employs the doctor. That entity may be a crucial party to your lawsuit. You need to find out if that entity is properly licensed and registered with the state. If not then it may not have the protection, if any, of caps on damages offered by your state.

If the thrust of the case is based on the fault of a nurse or hospitalist then they are normally hospital employees. This needs to be confirmed.