I know both from my reading and from experience that there is a lot of medical malpractice out there. However, there are not very many medical malpractice cases filed. What is going on? The answer is that there are a lot of different reasons why people who have been the victims of medical malpractice do not sue.
It’s A Secret
Many, many victims of medical malpractice don’t know that they are victims. They know that something bad has happened to them, but they have been told that it is just one of those things that can happen. The medical profession does not do admitting to mistakes very well. In spite of an ethical duty to be honest with one’s patients, doctors don’t often tell their patients that they made a mistake that injured the patient. Sometimes, they outright lie about what happened. Usually, at least one other health care provider knows what actually happened, but that person or those persons usually observe the medical code of silence.
I Like My Doctor
Doctors who are friendly, who take the time to talk to their patients and listen to what their patients have to say get sued occasionally, but much less often than the jerk doctor who doesn’t tell the patient anything. Statistics on this do not lie. If a patient likes his or her doctor, they are much less likely to file a lawsuit against them for a medical mistake. They will often just write it off. On the other hand, I have had a lot of patients come to me and tell me they just want to know what happened to them or to their loved one. Good, honest communication can prevent a lot of lawsuits.
We Are Not The Kind Of People Who Sue
I hear this often. There is a prejudice out there against lawsuits and the people who bring them. That is one of the reasons doctors and hospitals win 85% to 90% of the malpractice cases that get tried. Many people think those who sue are looking to get rich at the expense of others. Almost all of my favorite clients told me when we met that they are not the kind who sue but they have been hurt by this doctor and he (it is usually a he) needs to be responsible for what he did.
Lawsuits Are Stressful To Say The Least
A medical malpractice lawsuit will typically take at least two years before it is tried or otherwise resolved. During that time, the patient and his or her witnesses will have to be deposed and the patient will have to answer detailed questions about their life, their finances and their health. Depending upon the nature of the injury and the damages, some of the questions may necessarily be of an intimate nature. Since blaming the patient is a tried and tested defense strategy in medical malpractice cases, the patient can expect to be accused of causing or contributing to his own injury in some way. Not surprisingly, many patients are unwilling to sign up for this experience and decline to bring suit.
There Are No Quick Settlements
Often prospective clients come to me and tell me they do not want to go to trial, but want me to just get a quick settlement for them. I wish that were an option. It is a rare case in which the doctor and his or her insurance company will settle a case before suit is filed. Most medical malpractice cases that settle only settle after years of litigation and after all of the witnesses have been deposed. If there is no chance of an early settlement, many victims don’t want to sign on for years of struggle and stress.
I Can’t Find A Lawyer To Take My Case
Sadly, this is one of the most common reasons more suits are not filed.
Our justice system is stacked against the victims of medical malpractice. Malpractice cases are very expensive since they almost always involve the testimony of expensive expert witnesses. The lawyer who takes a medical malpractice case is going to have to invest many tens of thousands of dollars to prepare the case for trial. If she does not get a favorable settlement for her clients or win their case at trial, she won’t get paid and won’t be reimbursed for the money she has spent. This means that any lawyer accepting malpractice cases must be able to finance them and must be able to identify those cases which have a good chance of a favorable settlement or of being winners at trial. There must also be substantial damages to warrant the investment of time and money the case is going to take.
Although it is not the case in Arizona, many states have imposed caps on the amount of non-economic damages a victim or the victim’s family can recover. This makes cases involving children, stay-at-home moms, the disabled, and the elderly very difficult to bring. They will cost the same to prosecute as cases with big economic damages, but the legislature has made sure they won’t recover much, if they win.
Even in states like Arizona, which has no cap, the legislature has done everything it can to discourage malpractice suits by instituting rules that make the cases hard to win and that keep down awards, if the patient by some chance does win at trial.
For all these reasons, good medical malpractice lawyers must turn down meritorious cases where there is not a good chance of making a large recovery for the patient. Many experienced lawyers refuse to take any case in which they don’t believe they can recover at least $300,000 for their client. Given the costs which will have to be advanced and the time it will take to prepare and try the case, it just doesn’t make financial sense for either the lawyer or the patient to take a case smaller than that.
There Ought To Be A Better Way
The current system which requires a lawsuit for the victim of medical malpractice to be compensated is a terrible one. It is costly and hard on all who are involved. There should be a better way, which does not pit patients against doctors and hospitals. That said, I don’t see much changing in the foreseeable future.
The post Why Medical Malpractice Victims Don’t Sue appeared first on Sandweg & Ager PC.