Personal Injury Lawyer
When you seek a doctor’s help for a medical condition or injury, you expect to walk away feeling better than you did, to begin with. Unfortunately, about 1.5 million people every year suffer an injury due to medical malpractice. About 200,000 people die annually because of medical malpractice. Medical malpractice occurs when a medical professional acts negligently and causes harm to the patient. If you think you may have a medical malpractice lawsuit against your doctor, you may try to avoid it because of a few common misconceptions. As a personal injury lawyer explains, here are the top three biggest misconceptions about medical malpractice lawsuits.
#1 Malpractice Lawsuits Increase Healthcare Costs
One of the most common misconceptions is that healthcare costs are as high as they are because of medical malpractice lawsuits. Some people will not file a lawsuit in fear that they are contributing to the cost of healthcare. Most hospitals do not pay the settlement if you succeed in your lawsuit. Instead, the insurance company pays the settlement. The cost of the insurance does not account for the price of medical care.
#2 Medical Lawsuits Are Frivolous
Many people worry that if they file a medical malpractice lawsuit that they are frivolous. Most malpractice cases are not frivolous and most do not become rich because they filed a lawsuit. After all, a lawsuit could take years to go to trial or to settle. A lawsuit cannot make up for the injury that the medical professionals caused. If you had a loved one die because of medical malpractice, then no amount of money would make it right. But at the very least, the surviving family has the monetary support needed so that they don’t have to be concerned with finances as they navigate their grief.
#3 Doctors Do Not Want to Practice Because of Lawsuits
In most states, there are caps on how much a person can sue a doctor for. You cannot sue a doctor for an excessive amount of money. Nowadays, there are more doctors in the U.S. than there were 50 years ago. In fact, there are almost double the number now. Clearly, no lawsuits are chasing away the medical providers in the country. If anything, the prominence of medical malpractice incidents and the lawsuits that follow should be a warning to doctors that they must always practice with the utmost professionalism and consistently provide a standard of care to each patient. If they fail to do so, they could be liable for their grave mistake.
If you suffered an injury or illness because of a doctor’s error, you may have a medical malpractice case. To find out if you have a solid case, consult with a law firm, similar to the Law Office of Daniel E. Stuart, P.A., as soon as possible. Not only can your lawyer make sure that you have all of the appropriate paperwork filled out, but they can increase your chances of receiving the compensation you deserve.
