Medical Malpractice Attorney Serving Clients Near Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Arlington, Irving & North Texas
In the past several decades of handling medical malpractice cases, the first question on everyone’s mind, whether they visit us in person or our website, is a basic one. People want to know, “Do I have a case?”
At Polewski & Associates, we don’t want you to guess the answer to this important question. Your consultation with our experienced medical malpractice team is free, and you can rest easy knowing you’ll be seen by John Polewski, an expert in malpractice cases and our lead trial lawyer.
Free Case Review
Tell us about your case. Send us a detailed message below or call our office at 972.230.6200
“John and his staff were patient, informative, professional, proactive and followed up. John personally visited me in the hospital…”– Robin P.
Factors We’ll Discuss During Your Consultation
In analyzing whether you have a good medical malpractice case, we’ll look at three issues.
1. Did the Doctor Make an Inexcusable Mistake?
It is not enough in a medical malpractice case to prove that a doctor made a mistake. Some mistakes are excusable and are not medical malpractice.
For example, during a surgery, a doctor may accidentally cut something he didn’t intend to cut. This is probably medical malpractice. In some cases, though, it may be considered an excusable mistake, and therefore not medical malpractice.
The same type of issue arises in cases involving misdiagnoses, orthopedic surgery, dentistry, physical therapy, and every other healthcare field.
That’s why our lawyers and experts will need to determine not only that a mistake was made, but that the mistake is a mistake that a prudent doctor would not have made under the same circumstances.
Lawyers hired to defend doctors often claim that the mistake made by the doctor wasn’t malpractice, but was only “a complication” or “just a risk of the surgery.” Doctors who commit malpractice will never, ever tell you that they made an inexcusable mistake. They’ll either say nothing or call what happened a “complication” – exactly what their medical malpractice defense lawyers tell them to say.
2. Did the Mistake Make a Difference?
Sometimes it is obvious that a doctor made an inexcusable mistake, but that mistake did not make a difference in the patient’s outcome.
An example we see often is a case in which the patient already has very advanced cancer at the time they first go to see the doctor, but the doctor fails to make the right diagnosis for several months.
In these cases, the doctor’s delay in making the correct diagnosis may not make any difference to the patient’s outcome because the cancer was already so advanced that it could not be cured. When earlier diagnosis would not have made a difference, there is no medical malpractice case, even when the mistake made by the doctor was inexcusable.
This is the type of complex medical and legal issue that requires the expertise of an experienced medical malpractice team. A lawyer who usually handles divorces or car wreck cases simply does not have the capability of making these determinations, and does not have access to the medical experts necessary to reach the right scientific answer.
3. How Much of a Difference Did It Make?
Medical malpractice cases are expensive and complex due to the nature of medicine and the fact that winning a case requires testimony from very expensive medical experts. The cost of pursuing a medical malpractice case – even before attorneys’ fees are considered – can easily reach $50,000 and sometimes as much as $100,000.
People often contact us about cases that are clear-cut instances of medical malpractice, where the malpractice made a significant difference. However, the difference it made was too minor to justify the high cost of pursuing a medical malpractice lawsuit.
An example of this situation is medical malpractice during surgery that resulted in an extra week’s stay at the hospital. Anyone who has ever been hospitalized knows that spending an additional week there is a significant inconvenience.
Unfortunately, that kind of case is unlikely to generate a large enough settlement to cover the cost of obtaining it. Put another way, the client in that case would never get back the amount of money he would have to pay in expenses to get to the point where a settlement offer would be made.
This is why, when we are considering whether to advise you to pursue a medical malpractice case, one of the things we look at is the probable size of the settlement you might receive compared to the cost of getting that recovery. Obviously, nobody wants to go through with a medical malpractice case if, at the end of the case, the amount of a settlement is so small that only experts, vendors, and attorneys get paid, and there is no money left for the client.
We pride ourselves on taking good care of our clients and their families. We would never advise a client to pursue a bad case or one where they are unlikely to receive any outcome.
Contact Us Today
If you’re curious about whether or not you have a medical malpractice case, there is no reason to wait. At Polewski & Associates, your initial consultation is free, and you can trust that we’ll give you honest advice and recommendations. Call us at 972.230.6200 or send us a message.