What Happens During a Medical Malpractice Case

Answer:

What happens during the course of a medical malpractice case in Idaho? The answer is that there are several steps that almost all medical malpractice cases will involve. The first step of the process is gathering all of the information related to the incident in question. That typically involves gathering medical records, gathering imagining studies, gathering any information that relates to the incident that is believed to be the medical malpractice incident in question. That’s step one; you have to gather the underlying information.

Step two is that information has to be reviewed by a medical professional in order to make a determination of whether there has been medical malpractice. There are lawyers who have substantial experience with handling medical malpractice cases, but those lawyers don’t have the medical expertise to tell you whether you have a medical malpractice or not without first consulting with a medical professional who specializes in the medical issues involved in your case. Before the lawyer can even help you determine whether you have a viable medical malpractice case or not, it will be necessary for that lawyer to consult with one or more medical professionals who can review the medical records and the medical information that relates to your case and advise the lawyer whether it looks like there has been medical malpractice that has caused a serious injury.

Once a determination is made that there appears to be a viable case, Idaho has special rules that apply before you can proceed with filing a lawsuit, and those special rules require you to file a complaint with the Idaho Board of Medicine. The Board of Medicine conducts a review of the case. They interview the participants, both the patient and the doctor, and they generate a written report that generally comments on whether the Board of Medicine believes the case has merit or not. The findings of the Board of Medicine are not binding. In other words, if the Board of Medicine finds in your favor, that doesn’t mean you win; it doesn’t even mean that the finding of the Board of Medicine will be admissible in evidence. Likewise, if the Board of Medicine finds that your case does not have merit, that doesn’t prevent you from pursuing your case; it’s just the opinion of the Board of Medicine giving you some feedback about whether they believe you have a meritorious case. Every case in Idaho has to be submitted to the Board of Medicine for review before a lawsuit can be filed. Once the Board of Medicine has completed their review, then a lawsuit is typically filed, if it’s determined by the lawyer and the individual that that’s the next step they want to take.

Once the lawsuit is filed, a lot happens. You have to find and retain medical experts to help you prove your case. Those experts have to review the records, review depositions of the participants in the incident, and render opinions about whether there was in fact medical malpractice. The defense will do the same. They will hire experts to defend against the case. Once experts are retained by both sides, those experts’ depositions will be taken. The depositions of the parties will be taken. The depositions of the healthcare providers will be taken. There’s a lot involved with pursuing a medical malpractice case.

Once all the experts have rendered their opinions, then, in many cases, there’s an effort to explore settlement of the case before the case goes to trial. With medical malpractice cases, because of a number of considerations, many times medical malpractice cases will not resolve before trial, and then those cases go to trial. Those trials are typically jury trials, so they’re submitted to a jury to resolve the case.

The medical malpractice process from beginning to end is a complex, time-intensive, difficult process that involves a lot of cost to both sides. For all of those reasons, the medical malpractice case should involve very serious injuries to justify the expense, and the time that it will take, and the disruption of everyone’s lives that will be involved before choosing to pursue a medical malpractice case. Again, this is a complex question and usually involves a multi-faceted answer. If you have questions about medical malpractice cases, please call the Hepworth Holzer Law Firm and we’ll do our best to guide you through this process.