Understanding Personal Injury Law

Want to Sue for Medical Malpractice? You'll Need This Information to Be Successful

18 August 2016

Kristina Walker

When there is a problem with your health that is misdiagnosed or otherwise mishandled by a nurse, physician, or other healthcare providers, you might want to sue them. More than 17,000 lawsuits regarding medical malpractice are filed each year, and if you want to file one yourself, you need to do everything you can to ensure that your case will be successful. Pay attention to the following so that you can prevail.

Respect Your State's Statute of Limitations

Your health may not be very good as a result of medical malpractice, but it is not a good idea to wait until you've completely recovered before suing. As with any lawsuit, you will need to observe your particular state's statute of limitations. This can be tricky, as there is also a so-called "discovery rule" to consider; the day that you found out about the healthcare provider's negligence can affect how long you have to file. Contacting a lawyer can help you figure out how many months you can delay your suit.

Sue Only the Responsible Party

You may be so angry that you want to sue everyone that treated you. However, that can result in a failure of your suit. You need to focus on those who were actually negligent and performed their duties in a way that no reasonable professional would. For example, if a physician made an honest mistake based on a botched report from the lab, a suit against that doctor might be ill-advised. However, if they had the correct results and ignored them or did not order follow-up tests that any other doctor would have ordered, your case against them may be valid.

Take Care with Social Media

Almost everyone has signed up for at least one social-media site. You may have profiles on a number of different platforms and don't think that has anything to do with your lawsuit. However, you must realize that the lawyers for the person you are suing will have their team investigate your online presence and attempt to pull up whatever information they can find. Typically they will do an online search on social-media sites and search engines to locate your profiles and go through your posts to see if they can discover anything incriminating.

To avoid sabotaging your medical-malpractice suit, it is smart to ensure you've restricted viewing of all your profiles so that these investigators cannot access any information. You may want to consider not mentioning anything related to how you feel or what your health is like so that even those on your friends and follower lists cannot provide the other legal team with any assistance. Avoid posting anything that would contradict what your lawsuit claims.

Medical malpractice is a serious charge with serious consequences for those who are found guilty. If you plan to file this kind of lawsuit, it's vital that you use the above information and work with a seasoned attorney who is an expert in this subject. Consult any of the medical-malpractice lawyers who practice in your area to learn more about this process and what you must do to succeed.

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