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If you or your loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice or negligence, you are probably wondering what to do next. The best way to deal with such instances is to hold the at-fault party responsible in the court of law and making them pay for their mistakes. However, going in alone on the legal battlefield can backfire. You should hire the best medical malpractice lawyer to help you navigate through the process. Unfortunately, finding an experienced medical malpractice attorney can become difficult. When going about the process, you may come across a sea of unknown names that you may have to choose from. This blog will guide you in understanding the steps and methods you could employ to hire the best medical malpractice attorney for your case.
If you are still unsure about hiring a medical malpractice attorney, here are a few reasons that shed light on why hiring one will be in your best interests:
Insurance companies are aggressive negotiators who can easily intimidate you and push you to the corner. With huge resources and lawyers at their disposal, insurance companies almost always try and settle medical malpractice cases at the early stages of a case. They try to close cases by offering lowball offers that hardly cover the medical expenses required to treat injuries and damages caused by negligence. Additionally, you should be careful about what you share with the insurance companies as they can use it against you. When you hire a medical malpractice attorney, they handle the correspondence with the insurance company and ensure you do not fall for low-ball offers and settlements.
Legal procedures involve the filing of lots of paperwork at different stages of a lawsuit. Besides this, you are expected to file the paperwork on or before a set deadline. Failing to file the paperwork correctly can cost you time, effort, and money. In addition to this, if you take the challenge alone, you need to understand the legal jargon and use language that meets the court’s standards. A medical malpractice attorney will take over this responsibility and use their in-depth understanding of the procedures to great use.
Many factors come into play when evaluating the value of a medical malpractice claim. Everything from medical expenses incurred for treating injuries caused due to negligence to the emotional distress and pain caused needs to be evaluated to calculate the value of a claim. Medical malpractice lawyers have both the knowledge and experience to help you understand and evaluate the value of your claim.
Medical malpractice attorneys understand the priority and value of each piece of evidence and know how to access it. Evidence like CCTV footage, nurse’s notes, and the hospital’s medical records require you to get court orders and permission. Medical malpractice attorneys are aware of these procedures and can help you collect evidence to build a strong case.
If the case ends up in court, a medical malpractice lawyer will present your case to the judge and jury. Besides this, they will ensure you are not pushed into a corner by the other party or the defendant’s lawyer. Attorneys specializing in the practice understand how to present the case, what facts to emphasize, and how to influence the judge and jury into deciding in your favor. Going to trial without a medical malpractice lawyer can hurt you.
Here is what you should look out for when hiring a medical malpractice attorney:
The most important and basic requirement that any attorney you hire should fulfill is that they should have a firm understanding and familiarity with your state’s medical malpractice laws and regulations. The best way to ensure this is by hiring a lawyer that specializes in the medical malpractice area. In addition to this, you must find an attorney who has taken up cases for the victims of medical malpractice and not hospitals or insurance companies. Medical malpractice is different and more complicated than any other personal injury case. Therefore, you should ascertain that the attorney you are hiring has the experience and in-depth knowledge in the area.
After you find an attorney with specific medical malpractice experience, you need to take a closer look at their track record and client testimonials. The testimonials will give you more clarity on the way the attorney works and helps its clients. To evaluate an attorney’s success rate, you should take a closer look at the cases they have undertaken in the past. Please take a closer look at their settlement amounts to decide their success rates qualitatively and quantitatively.
The attorney you hire must understand medical jargon and the standard of care. After all, medical malpractice arises when a medical provider breaches the standard of care. Therefore, the lawyer you hire for your medical malpractice case should understand these terms and have a general idea of medical diagnosis and general medicine. A basic understanding of these concepts will allow the attorney to evaluate your claim better and build a strong case against the medical provider.
Most medical malpractice cases would require expert medical personnel to testify in favor of you in court. The expert witness will also help you evaluate the value of your claim as they are the ones who can actually put a dollar value on the pain and suffering you or your loved one was put through. In addition to this, the expert witness will also help you estimate the future expenses for treatment, if any, and enable you to demand those when settling the case or going to a trial.
Attorneys use a variety of models to charge their clients. Typically, most medical malpractice lawyers work on a contingency fee basis. Under this model, the medical malpractice lawyer takes a percentage of the compensation you recover only if you recover it. However, attorneys can charge you hourly or under a flat fees model. Besides inquiring about the fee model, you should also clarify whether you will be required to pay the other legal expenses incurred during the lawsuit upfront or towards the end. By doing so, you will have a clear understanding of what to expect from the lawyer regarding their fees.
Have you or your loved one been a victim of medical malpractice or negligence? Are you looking for a seasoned medical malpractice attorney? Following the steps to finding the ideal medical malpractice lawyer can be difficult. But you can avoid all this by simply filling in the form provided alongside, and The Legal Helpers will help you find the expert medical malpractice lawyer that is best suited for your case.
