Medical Malpractice

what is the procedure for filing for medical malpractice?

What is the procedure for filing for medical malpractice? Also what is the court process? This is for a school assignment. I just need to know the court process.

Public Comments

1. 1. Get a lawyer.
2. It is not a do-it-yourself project. Call an attorney.
3. Very hard to sue a doctor. I had two experiences with very bad doctors. A lawyer will ask you if you are permanently damaged for life or if the person died. If these are not the case you have a slim chance of winning. So go on with your life and forget it. It's not worth it. The doctor will always win.
4. Let me start by saying, do not do this yourself if that's what you're thinking. If you don't know what you're doing your case will almost certainly get dismissed. It's not as simple as filling out some paperwork and explaining what the doctor did wrong. I wouldn't even trust an attorney with no medical malpractice experience with this case. It takes seven years of college and at least a few years of tort litigation experience to be successful. The court will probably go easy on you if you do the case pro se (represented by yourself), but they won't bend over backwards to accommodate your inexperience and lack of knowledge. That said, it would probably go something like this (keep in mind this is a simplified version of it and I'm probably forgetting few things too): You would start by choosing a venue. Do you want to sue in state or federal court? Do you qualify to sue in federal court? Also, check the statute of limitations in the state where the incident occurred and make sure it has not tolled. Next you would open the case by filing a complaint for medical malpractice and serving it upon the defendants along with a certificate of service.. Make sure you know the elements of a prima facie case for medical malpractice and include them in your complaint or your case will get dismissed. You should also include a request for compensatory and possibly punitive damages and any other appropriate relief. There are probably a few other administrative forms the court will require you to file with the complaint. You would then await their answer and possibly file a reply. The court will hold various hearings. Next discovery will begin and you need to put your case together. For a medical malpractice case you will almost certainly need to hire an expert witness (which is very expensive). You will need to make appropriate motions, subpoena documents, informally interview key witnesses, perform depositions, draft interrogatories and requests for admission. The defendant will probably file a motion for summary judgment, which you will need to reply to appropriately. You will probably have to attend a pretrial conference next. Then the case would go to trial. If you somehow managed to make it to trial, my hat would go off to you. It would probably go to trial if you didn't screw anything up because the defendant probably won't be too inclined to settle with someone not represented by an attorney. At a minimum you'll need to perform voir dire (choose jurors), give an opening statement, direct, cross and recross examine witness, and give a closing argument.