What to Do if You are a Victim of Medical Malpractice?
What you need to know about being a victim of Medical Malpractice and how to move forward.
Document Everything
The first step is to make sure that you document everything that happened. This is because the whole situation is going to be very stressful and scary for anyone. There is a chance that you are going to forget a lot of important details. Therefore, you will need to write down all of the dates, times, dosages, and the names of the doctors and nurses that you saw. All of your notes are going to need to be very descriptive and document them while they are happening if it is possible. This is especially true if you think there is a chance that you might need to file a lawsuit. But even you aren’t, the documentation will be able to help the situation to be a little less stressful for everyone.
Ask Questions
The second step is to make sure that you ask a lot of different questions. This process can be very intimidating but you don’t need to be aware to ask the doctors and nurses any questions that you might have. You have the right to know what is going on, why a certain thing might have happened, and how the problem is going to be fixed. It is very important to be direct and persistent with those doctors and nurses. Every person should know exactly what is going on with their body. This means that you deserve to get answers to your questions so don’t stop until you get your answers.
Get Copies of Medical Records
The third step is to ask for a copy of all of your medical records. This will need to include your x-rays. You do not have to explain to the doctors or nurses why you want a copy of your medical records. This is because you don’t want to tell them that you want the medical records since you are going to be contacting your lawyer in order to file a lawsuit. Once you have been given your records, then you will need to go through them to make sure that they include everything. Sometimes you might need to go to a few places in order to get all of the records that you need like from the doctor’s office and the hospital. Most of the time, you will have to fill out a written request to get your medical records.
Hire a Personal Injury Attorney
The last step is to make sure that you call an attorney that specializes in medical malpractice cases. If you don’t know one, then you can always call an attorney that you trust so that this attorney can give you a referral for the right attorney for your case. This is a very specialized area of law so you just don’t want any type of attorney trying to represent you in your case. This is because each state has different laws about medical malpractice that can affect the outcome of your case. Therefore, the personal injury attorney will be able to tell you if you even have a case or not and if it is even going to be worth you filing the lawsuit. Most of the time, they are going to provide you with a free consultation just so that they can learn all of the facts of your case and to give you some advice. A personal injury attorney knows that in order for you to win your case, then they will need to work on a contingency basis. This means that they won’t get any money if you do not win your case.