Medical malpractice occurs where a practitioner acts in a negligent manner when treating a medical condition. Malpractice can occur from an action of the medical practitioner, or by the failure to take appropriate action. Examples of medical malpractice that an experienced DC accident lawyer may be able to help with include failure to diagnose or provide appropriate treatment for a medical condition, misdiagnosis of a condition, or an unreasonable delay in treatment. Call a Washington DC medical malpractice lawyer for more information.
A medical practitioner may also be legally liable if a patient does not give informed consent to a medical procedure that results in a harm to the patient, even if the procedure is performed properly.
If a doctor does not tell a patient that a surgical procedure has a 50% chance of causing paralysis, the patient does not have the necessary information to make an informed choice to either have or refuse the operation. If the patient is paralyzed as a result, the doctor may be liable even if the operation was performed flawlessly because the patient might have refused the surgery if the full risks were known.
Medical malpractice claims are notoriously expensive claims to pursue. In general, the cost of litigating a medical malpractice case, may run between $30,000.00 to over $50,000.00. These costs are generally advanced by the plaintiff’s lawyer, but the client is ultimately responsible for costs advanced. Because of the cost, which will not be reimbursed to the lawyer who advances the money if the case is lost, lawyers are very selective as to which cases to accept. Medical malpractice lawyer Roger Gelb says, “I bet I typically get a call a week involving a medical malpractice claim that I know I can win for the potential client, but the value is just not significant enough to warrant pursuing.” In other words, the client may get nothing if the case were won, and may even end up owing money. “The math has to make sense for me to recommend pursuing these claims,” Roger Gelb continued.
As with other personal injury cases, if you suspect that you have a medical malpractice case, it’s important to contact an experienced Washington DC medical malpractice attorney. Gelb & Gelb has represented over 10,000 clients and recovered over $100,000,000.00 (one hundred million dollars).