subject: Choosing a Medical Malpractice Attorney - How to Decide [print this page] There is a commercial on the radio which suggests you should not buy a house from a cabdrier who happens to take you past the house. The premise, of course, is that the cabdrier has little or no knowledge of the home or of you. The obious truth of this simple message extends to almost eery facet of our lies. ery few of us would hire someone for something as important as being a babysitter for our children or as relatiely mundane as repairing our car without being sure that the person we hire knows what they are doing and has some positie track record that we can rely upon. With that basic premise in mind, I find myself consistently surprised at how often a person will hire an attorney to handle a medical malpractice case (as well as many other types of cases) without knowing who the attorney is; what experience they may hae in the field; what their record of success in the field may be; or, where they stand in the eyes of their peers and adersaries.
When a person is injured from medical malpractice, a lawsuit against a doctor or health care proider is usually the furthest thing from his or her mind. Concerns about one's health; one's ability to keep working and proiding for a family; and, the ability to regain one's place as a productie member of society are among the far more pressing issues. It is typically not until these concerns hae been dealt with or accepted that people een consider whether malpractice might hae occurred. Unfortunately, the realization that one's life altering injury may hae been preentable often adds to the difficulty of the situation. It is within this emotionally charged and upsetting context that the search for a medical malpractice attorney typically begins. Of course, most people do not know which attorneys concentrate their practice in a specific area or which attorneys happen to focus their practice on the highly technical and difficult field of medical malpractice.
Most attorney adertising suggests that the attorney who paid for the ad is an expert in eery area of the law including medical malpractice. With the personal stresses and without any way to separate out which attorneys truly know how to handle a medical malpractice case, many people will hire the wrong lawyer. A further part of the difficulty an injured person deals with when he or she considers a lawsuit is the perceied role of lawsuits in today's society. Lawsuits are not and should not be about a "quick buck" or holding a company up for a "pay day". The ciil justice system is about accountability - about placing blame where it belongs. It is about making sure that those injured are compensated for that which they can neer get back. It is about making sure that the indiidual, regardless of his or her financial or societal status, has the same rights as the rich and powerful. It is about assuring society that we are all equal.
Not eery wrong can or should be the basis of a lawsuit. There are, howeer, many alid reasons to bring a lawsuit. Obiously, the simplest reason is to right a wrong. There is also great benefit to others in our community and our society as a whole in that meritorious lawsuits deter similar conduct. Unfortunately, the role of lawsuits in society has been damaged considerably by media attention of a handful of lawsuits, some of which were portrayed inaccurately to fit an agenda and some of which were portrayed correctly but should neer hae been brought. The end result is that, for a great number of people, lawsuits are nearly the definition of what is wrong with our society today. Critics of our judicial system depict our courts as out of control, attorneys as greedy and lawsuits as damaging to the economy and society as a whole.
Choosing a Medical Malpractice Attorney - How to Decide
