Medical malpractice lawsuits are unique in a number of ways. First, they have unique rules and deadlines. Second, and the topic of discussion here, they require the assistance of a qualified and credible medical expert in the appropriate area(s) of medicine. Without an expert, a medical malpractice case cannot go forward.
An injured patient or family can hire their own medical expert without the assistance of an attorney. However, most cannot afford the very expensive fees associated with these experts. As a result, most injured patients and families must go first to an attorney.
For New Mexico medical malpractice claims, Collins & Collins, P.C. provides a free case multi-step case review. We can be reached at (505) 242-5958.
Attorney Review for Medical Malpractice is Step 1
The attorney must review the medical records first before they go to the expert. The process for getting an expert through an attorney is pretty straightforward. First, the attorneys will review the case. This will occur in several steps.
The attorney will review the information provided by the client. If the information provided appears to indicate medical malpractice resulting in serious harm or death, the attorney will request the medical records.
The attorney will then review the medical records to determine if the records are consistent with the information provided by the patient/family. In so doing, the attorney will from an attorney’s perspective also review to determine if medical malpractice was present, there was serious harm, and that harm can be shown to have resulted from the medical malpractice.
Keep in mind that neither doctors nor judges care in the least what an attorney thinks about their actions. Therefore, if the attorney is confident that there was medical malpractice with resulting serious harm or death, then the records will be forwarded on to the appropriate medical expert.
Expert Medical Essential and Expensive
[pullquote] If merited, the attorney will obtain the expert review at no costs to the client. The fact is that a medical malpractice case cannot go forward in court without the appropriate medical expert. It is also true that these experts in general are very expensive. Medical experts are doubly so.
Due to the costs of medical experts , attorneys must be very cautious in the cases that are sent to the expert. In addition, the attorney must rely on the expert. This means for Collins & Collins, P.C. that we go with the expert’s recommendation on whether to move forward almost 100% of the time. If the expert says “go”, then we move forward with the medical malpractice lawsuit.
If the expert says “no go”, we cannot. The reason for this is that the costs of a medical malpractice lawsuit go far beyond the expert costs. The litigation process itself is exponentially more costly than just the expert. Going against the expert can result in enormous financial losses.
Free Review of Medical Malpractice Cases from Collins & Collins, P.C.
The Albuquerque law firm of Collins & Collins, P.C. is happy to review your case. The review follows the process above:
1) Review of information by the attorney to determine if there was medical malpractice with resulting serious harm or death,
2) If the answer to #1 is yes then the attorney will review the medical records to determine if the records should be sent on to a medical expert,
3) If the answer to #2 is yes, the records are sent to the medical expert at no costs to the patient or family,
4) Collins & Collins, P.C. then must follow the advice of the expert on whether or not to move forward with a lawsuit.
We can be reached at (505) 242-5958