The role of a paralegal is ever-expanding. In the past, paralegals have been underutilized.
Partially because attorneys might not recognize the valuable role they can play as part of the litigation team.
As litigation becomes more complex, paralegals, through diligent efforts, can assume more responsibility, obtain more recognition for their contributions, and improve their standing in the workplace.
One of those responsibilities is to handle medical malpractice areas.
Our paralegals at Bolster Legal Services can be involved in many complex cases, including medical malpractice.
Moreover, product liability cases are varied and can range from defective vehicles to faulty medical products. Medical malpractice cases can involve misdiagnosis, failure to treat, or treatment that falls below the standard of care.
What can you expect from a medical Malpractice paralegal?
Liability theories in these types of cases differ to a great extent. It can present unique challenges and require special knowledge of varying rules and regulations.
Our paralegals continuously stay abreast of consumer laws, and state and federal rules and regulations and are knowledgeable of sources for technical information involved.
By acquiring the ability to gather information from a myriad of sources, our astute paralegal team cements their role as valuable members of the litigation team.
At Bolster Legal Services, we have experienced lawyers and paralegals, subject matter specialists, and document specialists to finely deal with the legal situation concerning medical malpractice.
Our representatives give professional litigation support advice or opinions for any personal case and also for any other organization. Thus outsourcing your medical malpractice litigation to us will be a profitable task that would not only give you the benefits but also help you overcome the legal issue.
If our services attract you, make no delay in contacting us right away! We can get things customized according to your needs and at a fairly reasonable price.
Medical malpractice in brief
Med Mal occurs when a patient is harmed by a doctor (or another medical professional) who fails to competently perform his or her medical duties.
Its litigation combines all the demands of complex litigation with a wide range of challenging medical issues.
State rules about medical malpractice vary from when you must bring your lawsuit to whether you must notify the doctor ahead of time.
Common Types of Medical Malpractice
A wide variety of situations can lead to a medical malpractice claim — from a doctor leaving a sponge in a patient’s stomach during an operation to failing to tell a patient that a prescribed drug might cause heart failure.
Medical malpractice can take many forms. Here are some examples of medical negligence that might lead to a lawsuit:
- Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis
- Misreading or ignoring laboratory results
- Unnecessary surgery
- Surgical errors or wrong-site surgery
- Improper medication or dosage
- Poor follow-up or aftercare
- Premature discharge
- Disregarding or not taking appropriate patient history
- Failure to order proper testing
- Failure to recognize symptoms
- Most medical malpractice claims fall into one of these categories:
- Failure to Diagnose
If a competent doctor has discovered the patient’s illness or made a different diagnosis, which led to a better outcome than the one achieved, the patient can have a viable medical malpractice claim.
The procedure our paralegals follow:
1. Initial Client Interview/Case Evaluation
As in all medical malpractice cases, the computation of damages cannot be determined without gathering all the data relevant to medical care and treatment, pain and suffering, physical disability, lost income, wages, etc.
In most cases, the injury is a permanent incapacitating or wrongful death.
It will be our paralegal’s role to obtain credible medical records or reports to assure the litigation team of existing injuries (severe brain damage, permanent spinal cord injury, severe disfiguring burns, limb loss, loss of sight or hearing, or substantial disfigurement).
Our paralegals ensure that medical and wage authorizations are signed and that the names of all treating and consulting physicians or other medical specialists have been obtained.
2. Medical Record Review
In obtaining information regarding the incident, any contributory negligence on the part of the injured party should be noted. If the injury occurs in a workplace, there are likely many witnesses, still working for the same employer.
Information regarding all potential witnesses (co-workers, former workers, union officials, visitors to the workplace at the time of the injury, first aid staff, emergency room employees and others) who may have treated victims immediately after the injury, as well as anyone else with knowledge of the machine, vehicle or product should be obtained.
As per that standard, we collect our client’s past details, medical records and practices. It is discussed by our expert team, and the full details are collected for future perusal.
We understand how our customer’s medical records and past information are crucial for providing litigation support services.
3. Information Gathering
It is often the paralegal’s role to obtain copies of all investigations of the incidents, including police reports, fire reports, union reports, coroner’s reports, and reports prepared by state or federal safety and health inspectors.
Our experienced medical paralegals are aware of how to obtain and analyze medical records.
Given the focus on a particular incident in the medical treatment of the client, our paralegal can organize and tab the records so that the operative report, history, and physical or consult reports can be easily found.
Most lawyers and paralegals have their system for the organization of records, but they must be put in chronological order and meticulously checked for completeness.
After the records are properly organized, our paralegals put forth a chronology of the events surrounding the alleged malpractice.
For example, if the case involves a misdiagnosis, a chronology of each visit to the health care provider is done, including any x-rays, lab reports, consults, follow-ups etc.
The medical care is then analyzed to determine at which point the proper diagnosis could have been made and what treatment could have been undertaken.
Alternatively, if the case involves a specific event that occurred during surgery, the chronology centers around the surgical events and includes a minute by minute synopsis of events in the operating room.
4. Legal research
During the case study and performance, if any legal research is required then our lawyer or attorney team does the legal research for the help of our clients.
5. Medical consultancy
We have specialists and consultants on medical grounds. They provide different suggestions and ideas for our customer’s need for a legal process.
Regarding the issues are discussed, and a solution is provided to them for better and hassle-free litigation support.
6. Positive and Negative Side of the Case
The client’s safety is most important to us, so the case is studied by our experts to notify the positive and the negative aspects and to give the best suggestions applicable.
7. Forming a case strategy
The lawyers assigned to clients make a case strategy and help identify the problems or issues in the case. The best way to deal with the legal side & possible way of coming out from the case is also identified.
No matter the type of med malpractice, we can assist you!
When you consider retaining a medical malpractice lawyer at Bolster Legal Services, you gain the peace of mind that can only come from proven methods and pertinent experience.
Our team has assisted with countless clinical negligence claims over the years.
Moreover, a case is as unique as the individual, and we recognize that the legal process can at times be a long and difficult emotional journey.
We are here to help you on the road ahead.