Representing Plaintiffs In Medical Malpractice Cases

Representing Plaintiffs in Medical Malpractice Cases provides an authoritative, insiders perspective on mounting an effective medical malpractice case. Featuring experienced partners from law firms across the nation, these experts guide the reader through the process of evaluating a claim and ultimately bringing it to trial. These top lawyers offer advice on working through the discovery process, selecting suitable experts, addressing the jury, demonstrating negligence, and proving the client suffered injury. Additionally, these experts discuss important legislation, common types of medical malpractice cases, and settlement options. The different niches represented and the breadth of perspectives presented enable readers to get inside some of the great legal minds of today, as these experienced lawyers offer up their thoughts on the keys to success within this ever-changing area of law.

Books such as this one are deceptively difficult to create. The general subject is neither happy, nor easy, nor most anyone’s idea of fun. M- practice litigation, however, has become a central fact of existence in the practice of medicine today. This tsunami of lawsuits has led to a high volume of irreconcilable rhetoric and ultimately threatens the stability of the entire health care system. Our goal has been to provide a source of reliable information on a subject of importance to all who provide me- cal care in the United States. The book is divided into four sections. Part I gives an overview of insurance in general and discusses the organization of professional - ability insurance companies in particular. Part II focuses on the litigation process itself with views from the defense and plaintiff bar, and the physician as both expert and defendant. Part III looks at malpractice litigation from the viewpoint of the practicing physician. Some of the chapters are broadly relevant to all doctors—the rise of e-medicine, and the importance of effective communication, for example. The other ch- ters are constructed around individual medical specialties, but discuss issues that are of potential interest to all. Part IV looks ahead. “The Case for Legal Reform” presents changes in medical-legal jurisprudence that can be of immediate benefit. The final two chapters take a broader perspective on aspects of our entire health care system and its interface with law and public policy.

What is it like to be sued for medical malpractice? Bad medical outcomes traumatize patients but they also traumatize physicians. The litigation that often follows is a profoundly human, rather than just a legal experience. Although every physician's case is different, this book shows how each case goes through the same judicial stages of complaint, discovery, depositions, motions, and delays that lead to trial, settlement, or being dropped. It also gives doctors an understanding of how lawyers think and work to help defendants. Written by a physician and a lawyer, the book provides unique insights - through real-life stories - into the personal experience of litigation as well as recommendations for dealing with each of the legal process. It also includes up-to-date reviews of HIPAA legislation, the controversial subject of disclosure, and recent developments in the law affecting medical practitioners. Only about thirty percent of plaintiffs win their cases against doctors, but the journey from bedside to witness stand tests both the personal character and the professional skills of those accused. This well-documented book will help doctors understand and navigate the legal system while honoring their own ideals and emerging changed but stronger from the experience.

With America's health-care system in the midst of upheaval, and with government officials, physicians, and the public-at-large focused as never before on the cost and quality of these vital services, a hidden epidemic--medical malpractice--destroys hundreds of thousands of lives each year and is ignored by the majority of the medical establishment. Lethal Medicine is the first book to thoroughly examine malpractice, and its author, Harvey F. Wachsman, M.D., J.D., as both a respected neurosurgeon and the leading attorney in the field, is uniquely qualified to critique this problem from every angle. Using numerous case histories and authoritative data from university and government studies, Wachsman explodes the common myths that doctors are spending millions of dollars on "defensive medicine" and that the high cost of malpractice insurance is driving many doctors out of their practices. In fact, he argues that most malpractice cases actually do result from egregious abuses by doctors. Reviewing the latest court rulings and malpractice policies, Wachsman calls for the lgal community, government, and medical establishment to protect the public from the thousands of physicians who continue to practice irresponsible medicine without penalty. As Washington makes health care one of its highest priorities and the nation turns its attention to the issue, Lethal Medicine is a thoughtful yet urgent cry for reform by the nation's foremost expert on the topic.

Written by an MD/JD, this book offers a unique perspective on medical-legal issues surrounding daily clinical practice. It covers all the essentials and tells the inside secrets of how to avoid cases that cost the medical community millions each year. Readers will learn basic law and the ways laws are interpreted. In addition, the book focuses on the law-medicine-politics triangle and its effect on physicians, the impact of — and issues related to — diversity in medical malpractice, and other essential topics. Physicians who better understand malpractice laws are better clinical decision makers who feel more confident in their ability as doctors.

West Virginia lawyer, Jack Fabian, is a battle-hardened, hard-drinking personal injury trial lawyer concentrating his practice in medical malpractice plaintiff's cases. Fabian, who has developed a penchant for big spending, expensive airplanes, top-shelf booze, and luxury vacations finds himself in 2005, feeling the adverse effects of the recently enacted repressive medical malpractice tort reform law in his state that has dulled his enthusiasm for the practice in general and plaintiff's malpractice law in particular. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, Fabian reluctantly finds himself teamed up with former adversary, Benjamin Darnell, a recently deposed partner in a large insurance defense law firm and becomes embroiled in a case against a young neurosurgeon who, the two contend, botched his first surgery since completing training. Preferential Treatment is a story of two former foes pitted against the litigation section's chairman of Darnell's old firm and his young associate in a case that could make or break each of their small practices. The book gives the reader a bird's-eye view of the rough and tumble of the practice of law in a dying West Virginia town and the risks few lawyers dare to take--the difficult, time-consuming, and expensive practice of medical malpractice litigation.

A theoretical and empirical analysis of the disposition of malpractice claims compares the actual outcomes with the legal standard of payment equal to damages, if, and only if, negligence occurred. An economic model of the settlement process assumes that the litigants attempt to maximize wealth, subject to the legal standards of liability and damage, and the costs of litigating. The model predicts that awards in settlements out of court will reflect the expected verdict, the probability of the plaintiff's winning, and the costs of going to court. The probability of the plaintiff's winning in settlement will also reflect the probability of winning in court, the size of the expected verdict, and the costs of going to court. Evidence from three malpractice claims surveys is consistent with the legal standard but departs in ways predicted by the model. Characteristics of the injury, the plaintiff, and the defense influence the outcome.