Anyone Ever Dealt W/ Medical Malpractice? How would you handle this?

Im very sorry to hear about your mother.


I would subscribe to Silver and you will get far more intelligent opinions and suggestions. Its going to be hard to get people to open up here in the unsubscribed section like they will in the private areas.

 

+1

You will certainly get $15 worth of input on this issue alone from some great legal minds.

 

I'll say this...I thought I had a much better case than that. I got royally screwed by a few doctors, and no lawyers would take the case. Medical malpractice lawsuits are supposedly the hardest to win, and cost the most to get to court.

It's worth at least talking to a lawyer, though.

 

From my personal experience, it is.

My mom and her brothers were going to file a lawsuit against the doctors, nurses and hospitals for causing my grandma's stroke. They had indisputable proof that their negligence was the cause.

After speaking with lawyers, they decided against it. The burden of their mother being a vegetable and incapable of taking care of herself was already more than they could handle.

I wish you my best.

 

Because of the requirements in many states, a med mal case costs the lawyer about $5k to even file it, and it just gets more expensive from there. Nevada, for example requires the affidavit of another doctor with their opinion of malpractice (it's not evidence, just a filing requirement)... guess how much doctors charge the lawyers for those? Some states like UT need a whole medical board review to even file (I've heard they're really tough to get approved). If a trial is needed, figure another $10-30k for a medical expert witness to write an admissible report and then testify, plus $40-100k value in attorney hours. Also, sick people tend to have co-morbid conditions and it's hard to prove A caused B.

Then, most juries side with the doctor.

Most docs do a great job. Statistically, it's the few bad apples that cause most of the cases - I can't remember the exact % but the oft cited study of about 10 years ago showed that some 60% of the malpractice claims were against 15% of the doctors. Again, not being precise but it was clear that a small fraction were screwing up more than others. A smooth system should be allowed to penalize and/or economically force out those errant docs.

Instead we make it very difficult to recover claims under $100k, and those are the ones adjusters will fight tooth and nail, then deny anyway because they know the barrier to entry is so high. What lawyer will invest $5k cash plus about $2-3k in his own time (writing, research) for a 30% chance to win a $20k fee?

 

i work in the med center. we want to laugh and cry when this loser does commercials surrounded by children. had to edit myself there before posting. wanted to call him better names. bwr

 

Your mom should get an opinion from a certified hand specialist that is out side of the area where the first doctor practices. The second doc may be correct but there may be some "issues" between the two docs that prompted the statement. Rmember that bad outcome doesn't mean the first doc botched the surgery. The only way to sort it out is to get and unbiased opinion from a specialist. Good luck, hope your mom gets better.

 

Ohhhhhhh, it's that guy!

Everytime I see commercials of this type I second guess them. Anyone who uses their children or family seem extra sketchy to me. I wonder if that's his real family, especially that "wife" of his.

 

My son was injured at birth quite extensively and it cost us right around 160K to get it to court. If you have the money go for it, but unless the malpractice resulted in a death or extreme physical impairment, most attorneys will not touch it on contingency.

 

This is only partially true. You will be able to find an attorney to take contingency cases that are not death or serious disfigurement, but the client will have to pay all the costs along the way. When I tell people that over the phone they usually just decide it's not worth it.

Mark

 

I think we both said the same thing in different ways. Of course there are attorneys that will take it, but you will not be afforded the, oh so tv-esque "if you don't get paid, we don't". I know that our case lasted almost 2.5 years and cost quite a bit of money. The real factors are a) do you have the funds to pursue the matter (having expert witnesses, medical associates of the doctor, case studies) b) in the end will your venture truly net a justifiable means relative to cost.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that you can not sue someone for their medical license, like we wanted to. You have to sue for a financial sum. Fortunately if you win a case like this it limits their options on insurance and sometimes forces them to leaves the field.

If my words were vague my apologies, but Mark is spot on.

 

Sorry for your mom's poor outcome.

Couple of points:

1. As a physician I can assure you that a successful physician rarely has to advertise his practice. His reputation and quality of care should speak louder than a 30 sec. T.V. bit.

2. Who did your mom's surgery? I reviewed Dr. Brown Medical license history and he is not allowed to practice medicine in the state of Texas. So you are probably dealing with one of his associates.

 

That made me cringe when they said got him from his TV ads.

 

It breaks my heart to think people fall for the self-promoting TV hucksters.

 

Sir

See if you can get a local attorney to research the previous cases against this guy to determine the law firm that handled the prior lawsuits. I would then contact that firm. Odds are, they'd love to take your case.

Texas does have, I believe, $250,000 cap on pain and suffering. However, there is no cap on actual damages.

If that doesn't work, see if you can get your mother's insurance carrier or Medicare to go after him.

If none of the above work, go to a local TV station or the Chronicle see if they would be interested in lighting this guy up.

As a last resort, just sue the SOB. He'll have to respond. Odds are his insurance carrier will pay actual damages to make you go away.

Remember, our legal system doesn't guarantee justice. It just guarantees you a shot.

Dale

 

How about getting the facts together and submitting them to the medical board. I understand the first instinct is to head to court, but if you want to help others out, get the matter to the group that can take his license.

 

I think Platinum or maybe Super Rossa would be the ticket. Or maybe contact your Attorney.

 

All this ^^. This guy might have himself set up so that even if you won you'd be lucky to get anything out of him. Check into prior cases, settlements and pay outs etc. to determine chance of success. Good luck.

 

Yeah this.

If you believe you have a claim you should speak to an attorney, or multiple attorneys, and not waste time (or money, as some are suggesting) on free ferrarichat legal advice.

 

Well, you're gonna have to grab the bull by the horns if you want to go anywhere with this. I don't know any Malpractice attorneys off the top of my head, but I can ask around if you like.

Dale