You may have heard the term “medical malpractice” before. Possibly, you know what it means. However, if you suspect you have a medical malpractice situation on your hands, what can you do about it?

In this article, we’ll break down what medical malpractice involves, when you should bring a lawsuit, and when you shouldn’t.

What Does Medical Malpractice Involve?

Medical malpractice happens when someone in the medical field harms you. However, just because this happened, it doesn’t automatically mean you have a medical malpractice case. You must also prove that the medical professional violated what, in the medical community, they call the standard of care.

How Long Do You Have to File Your Medical Malpractice Lawsuit?

Texans must file medical malpractice cases within two years, and that’s true with many other states as well. However, check with a lawyer and ensure you know the statute of limitations in your state since each one has different policies.

What Should You Do if You Feel You Have a Medical Malpractice Case?

Let’s say a doctor tells you that you need surgery. You agree, and a surgeon operates on you. Afterward, you have a tough time coming back from the surgery. You go through painful physical therapy, but you’re never quite the same afterward.

You then find out the surgery wasn’t necessary. Your doctor told you that you had a certain condition that necessitated the surgery, but that wasn’t true.

This is a typical situation where you might feel you have a medical malpractice case. You went through an unnecessary surgery, spent money on it, and went through a lot of painful rehab. You didn’t come out the same in the end, so the operation impacted your quality of life.

This is a time where pursuing a medical malpractice case makes sense. You should go and speak to a lawyer about the facts surrounding what happened. The attorney can tell you, in their professional opinion, whether you should pursue a lawsuit or not.

Other Situations Where You Might Pursue a Medical Malpractice Case

The unnecessary surgery scenario that leads to a medical malpractice lawsuit happens more than you might imagine. You might run into some other situations where you feel you should move forward with this option, though.

For example, you might have a doctor, nurse, or clinic staff member give you the wrong prescription. You start taking it, and it makes you worse rather than better. That happens relatively often as well.

Maybe a medical professional gives you the proper medication, but they tell you that you should take the wrong amount. It might severely harm you if you do that, and it will certainly warrant a lawsuit.

You might have a situation where you’re supposed to have a surgeon operate on one of your limbs, but they operate on the wrong one. This happens a shockingly high number of times, too. To combat this, surgeons will ask you several times while they prep you before the operation which limb needs the procedure.

Understanding the Standard of Care Concept

Ultimately, when you and your lawyer have a consultation, and you discuss moving forward with the potential lawsuit, they will talk with you about the standard of care. You should understand this notion because, whether you win or lose, your case usually comes down to it.

The standard of care means the care you should generally receive in the medical profession in a typical case where you have an ailment or injury. In other words, the medical profession has a way it usually treats your injury or illness.

It has set up this care standard through years of trial and error. At this point, a doctor or other medical practitioner’s actions toward you should be very obvious. If they deviate dramatically from what they should do, whether accidentally or on purpose, that is when they have not met the standard of care.

If a lawyer says they feel you do not have a case, often, it’s because they believe the doctor or other medical professional didn’t deviate from the standard of care. Alternatively, maybe the lawyer thinks the medical professional did deviate from the standard of care, but it’s difficult or impossible to prove that.  

Can You Still Bring a Lawsuit if Your Lawyer Doesn’t Agree You Have a Case?

You might approach a lawyer with the case’s facts, and they might agree you have a lawsuit on your hands. If so, they will probably represent you. A lawyer often gets 30-40% of your winnings in a personal injury case, and medical malpractice definitely qualifies.

However, maybe your lawyer says the opposite. They might commiserate with you, but they may also feel what happened doesn’t mean the doctor or other medical professional didn’t meet the standard of care. 

You might argue, but your lawyer has likely heard about many of these situations. They have probably gone to trial with some of them. They’ll likely know when a jury won’t agree the doctor didn’t meet the care standard with you.

Maybe you and your lawyer disagree. You can always find another attorney and ask them their opinion. Just like doctors, plumbers, or other professionals, one may say one thing, and another might have the opposite opinion.

If you approach several lawyers and none will take your case, though, that probably means you won’t win, even if you pursue the matter on your own. If all the lawyers you speak to say the medical professional or entity you’re considering suing provided you with the industry’s standard of care, then you probably have little hope if you insist you’re moving forward.

Also, without a skilled lawyer on your side, you probably can’t sue successfully on your own. You don’t know the law well enough. To win and collect a judgment in your favor, you probably need both an excellent lawyer and clear evidence that a doctor or medical entity didn’t meet the care standard.