Medical Malpractice
Among other areas, our firm specializes in medical malpractice. Negligent medical care can have tragic consequences, including leaving a patient with a severe disability or even causing death. “Medical Malpractice” cases have a common factor: the failure of the medical institution to provide the patient with reasonable and acceptable medical care, not diagnosing an illness on time, not giving an adequate explanation regarding the treatment the patient is about to undergo, not giving the correct and necessary treatment, and providing negligent care.
Distinct cases of medical malpractice
Medical malpractice can arise in a variety of situations. Among the most important are:
- Negligent medical care. This is the classic case of medical malpractice when the treatment was performed incorrectly, contrary to the accepted medical rules and practice.
- Choosing the wrong or inappropriate type of treatment. This is the pre-therapeutic stage when the attending physician must consider and decide which treatment is appropriate for the patient in his or her condition. Not considering all relevant treatments, or preferring any treatment over other existing treatments without a reasonable cause, may constitute a case of medical malpractice.
- Failure to perform tests/examinations which should have been preformed in order to diagnose the patients medical issue in time, thus making it difficult or even impossible to cure it. The obligation to refer the patient to tests exists even when those tests are not included in the health insurance coverage and the patient may be required to pay for them.
- Lack of informed consent to treatment. Before any treatment – except for urgent life-saving treatments – the attending physician must explain the nature of the treatment the patient is about to undergo in a language that he/she understands. The physician must explain the advantages and disadvantages of the treatment, inform the patient about other treatment options, explain why this treatment is preferred over other existing treatments, inform the patient about the risks inherent in a specific treatment, and more. The list, of course, is not closed. If the attending physician fails to provide the patient with all the information, it may constitute a case of negligent care.
- There are many other cases which may constitute medical malpractice. What unifies them is unreasonable or unprofessional behavior of the attending physician.
How we handle a medical malpractice claim
In general, to win a claim against a physician or a medical institution, it is necessary to prove that damage was caused to the patient, and also a link between the damage and the negligence must be proved, that is, to prove that the negligence of the physician caused the damage.
Handling a medical malpractice case begins with the meticulous collection of all the patients medical records. After collecting the documentation, we analyze it. If we conclude that there is a possibility that there is a case of medical malpractice, we refer the documentation and the patient to a medical expert in the appropriate field, to examine the patient and the medical documentation and provide an initial opinion.
We work with the best medical experts in Israel and make sure that the medical reports received will be as reliable as possible to increase our client’s chances of winning the claim.
If the initial report supports the possibility of a medical malpractice case, the expert continues and writes a full medical report that will serve us in court. The two-stage approach helps reduce costs. Usually, the cost of an initial report is included in the experts assessment price. If the expert concludes that the possibility of establishing a medical malpractice case is insignificant, there is no need to write a full opinion, and this lowers the cost of the initial legal inquiry for the client.
Based on the medical expert opinion, we prepare, serve, and handle lawsuits in the appropriate court of law to maximize the rights of our clients. The extensive experience we accumulated in the field also allows us, many times, to reach settlements with excellent terms with the medical institutions and their insurers, thereby significantly shortening the procedures in court, which may otherwise take years to resolve.