5 Ways Medical Malpractice Can Change Your Life

You might have heard the term “medical malpractice” before. If a doctor, nurse, orderly, or other medical professional or institution mishandles your care, this term applies. You could bring a medical malpractice lawsuit against an individual or an entity, such as a hospital.

You might decide to bring such a lawsuit if an individual gives you the wrong medication. You might bring one if a hospital performs the wrong surgery on you, perhaps seeking the help of a specialist, like this joint surgery medical solicitor, who will be able to guide and support you throughout the process. You may also pursue one if a doctor fails to diagnose a medical condition properly or if they don’t document it correctly. In some very serious cases, medical malpractice can also end in death, with family members of the patient who died potentially liaising with a wrongful death law firm to bring a case against the medical professional.

If you decide to pursue such a suit, it can change your life in some significant ways. Here are a few of them.

You Might Get Restitution for a Loved One’s Death

You should understand that you might bring a medical malpractice suit for someone other than yourself. Perhaps a doctor made a mistake that killed one of your loved ones. A Johns Hopkins study showed recently that medical errors are the third leading death cause for US citizens.

If your loved one died because of inappropriate doctor or hospital actions:

1. You can hold them responsible for their mistake

2. You can force them to admit culpability  

This won’t bring your loved one back. However, let’s say that it’s your spouse who died. The individual or medical entity that caused their death should pay you for the work your spouse would have done for the remainder of their life that would have supported your family.

It’s only right that they do this since your loved one can’t be there to make that money now. It’s a poor substitute for having them with you, but it’s better than nothing.

You Might Face Disappointment

You might also bring a medical malpractice lawsuit against an entity or individual, but then the jury does not decide in your favor. That might be because:

1. There’s not enough wrongdoing proof

2. You have poor legal representation

If you pursue a medical malpractice suit, and it doesn’t go the way you want it to, you might end up feeling worse at the end of it than you did when it started. These cases aren’t always open and shut.

You’ll have to consider before going this route how strong of a case you have. If you don’t have ample evidence backing up your claim, you may not want to go through the trouble.

You Might End Up Owing Money

You might end up with less money at the lawsuit’s conclusion than you had before it began. This would happen if:

1. You lose the case

2. You agreed to pay your lawyer based on an hourly fee

This is an unusual occurrence, but it does happen. That’s why you need to exercise care when you agree to your lawyer’s fee structure.

The only time you should take on a lawyer is if they say you can pay them on a contingency basis. That is where you only pay them if they win the lawsuit for you.

Any other fee structure makes no sense because you can end up in a worse financial situation than before.

You Might Get the Money to Help with Your Current Condition

Assuming you survived whatever medical malpractice the defendant perpetrated, you might be in bad physical and mental shape. You could struggle through your life because of what this individual or entity did to you.

If so, it’s probably worth it to pursue a lawsuit against them because you can use the winnings to pay your medical bills. If you’re in therapy for what happened, you can use some of the cash to pay for that as well.

You Can Save Others from What Happened to You

You can also help other people if you decide to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit. When you do so, it’s a highly public act. If you don’t move forward with it, no one else will know about what the doctor, hospital, etc. did to you.

Maybe you’ll win your lawsuit, or perhaps you’ll lose it. In either case, you’re performing a public service. You’re telling your community what happened to you.

By doing so, you might save other people from an incompetent doctor, nurse, orderly, or hospital. They deserve to know, and the individual who committed this act may deserve to lose their license if their actions were egregious enough.

These lawsuits can have positive and negative outcomes, so consider all the possibilities we mentioned before deciding what to do.