There is an epidemic of medical malpractice, not medical malpractice lawsuits. As an attorney that fights for the rights of patients injured due to medical errors, I know that lawsuits improve patient safety. Hospitals and other healthcare organizations have implemented policies to prevent future errors, based upon the results of lawsuits. Lawsuits identify dangerous conditions and risky medical practices and result in improved practices from “time outs” prior to surgery to other checks and balances that keep all patients safer. If we as a society blame lawyers and patients that file lawsuits rather than accepting the truth that medical errors do harm and kill thousands of patients each year, we all will be at risk of suffering a serious medical injury in the future.
Most patients do not have medical training and are ill-equipped to determine the cause of complications in their medical care and whether the cause was due to an avoidable medical error. While no doctor or nurse ever intends to cause harm to a patient when harm occurs due to a failure to meet the standard of care, the healthcare provider seldom admits that the bad outcome was due to his mistake. Because of the complexity of medicine, absent an admission by a doctor or hospital most complications that were due to negligence would go unaddressed. Through the litigation process honest answers are frequently obtained. At Mishkind Kulwicki Law, we have the knowledge, training and experience to professionally and aggressively investigate and pursue meritorious claims.
Unfortunately, only a fraction of cases ever see the inside of a courtroom. Some reports suggest that less than 3% of victims of medical malpractice actually file lawsuits. Even then, upwards of 85% of cases do not result in compensation because juries still have a difficult time finding against a doctor or hospital. Defenses built into the system make it very difficult and extremely expensive to win medical malpractice cases. Due to the cost of trying to hold a doctor responsible, many people give up or are told that the cost of litigation will outweigh the potential recovery.