Just because a doctor makes a mistake, it doesn’t mean there is a winnable lawsuit. In Alabama, medical malpractice cases are considered the most difficult type of injury cases to win.
Here is a statistic that will shock you — hold on, you will not believe it. According to the National Practitioner Data Bank, a government database, 80% of all medical malpractice lawsuits fail.
What? Yes, if you line up 10 people who think they were hurt by a doctor, hospital, pharmacist, or other medical providers, only 2 will receive any money.
When you have a system, as we do, where lawyers front all the costs and only get paid when they win, you can see why many lawyers are very selective about the cases they take.
To win a case, you must prove that a medical provider violated the standard of care. In my experience, the action or lack of action must be horrendous. For example, a doctor puts a gag in a patient’s mouth, and the patient suffocates. True case.
Let me give an example of a non-case. A patient was given the wrong medication. The patient had taken this medication for years and knew the pills were not correct. She did not take them. This situation is a non-case because the patient was not injured. Just because the patient could have been hurt does not make it a winnable medical malpractice lawsuit.
Many other reasons make these types of cases tricky. However, if you think you were wronged by a medical professional, I strongly suggest you talk to an attorney and learn your rights — and your chance of winning.
If you suffer from a personal injury like medical malpractice, an auto/railroad wreck, wrongful death claim, or slip and fall, you can talk to us at the Law Firm of Eiland and Ritchie for free. We want to help you get back on your feet.
Also, join us on NBC 15 LawCall here in Mobile every Sunday night at 10:30, right after the news. We will take your calls live. We do like answering your questions. We also have lawyers standing by at our offices on Monday mornings.
Allen Ritchie
Mobile Personal Injury Attorney