You will need evidence in order to sue a doctor or other medical professional for medical malpractice. You should get copies of your medical records.Make sure to get records from the doctor you are suing, as well as from any doctor who has helped you recover from the poor treatment.


Your doctor will also need to understand your health history. For example, your injury could stem from an underlying condition and not from any action a doctor took. You will probably have to sign a release so that your doctor can get a complete medical file from all doctors who have treated you.;
, Medical records probably won’t contain everything your doctor told you. Accordingly, you should sit down as soon as possible and write down your memories of each meeting you had with the doctor.


Provide as much detail as you can. Write down what you remember the doctor saying and what you said in return.
Write the date on your document so that you will have proof of when you recorded your memories.
 A year or more might pass before you go to court for a trial. For this reason, you should take photographs of any injuries. If the doctor’s treatment caused bruising, rashes, or swelling, you should take vivid color photographs.


Photograph your injuries from a variety of angles so that you can choose the best one.
Remember not to smile in the photographs.You don’t want to convey that the injuries are minor.
 You can get compensated for all money spent receiving treatment to help you deal with the medical malpractice. You can also get compensated for your expected future medical needs.In order to help your lawyer calculate these damages, you should gather the following:hospital bills
doctor’s bills
rehabilitation bills
counseling bills
receipts for prescription drugs

, You can get compensation for a variety of injuries in a medical malpractice case. This compensation is called “damages.” You can receive damages for the following:Loss of income. If you are so injured that you can’t work—or can’t work in your current job—then you can be compensated for any decline in earnings. You will need proof of income—pay stubs, W-2 forms, tax returns, etc.
Pain and suffering. People who are injured unfortunately experience a diminished quality of life. Pain and suffering damages are meant to compensate for that reality. You should talk with your lawyer about how a jury is likely to calculate these damages.
Loss of consortium. These damages compensate for how your relationship with your spouse or children has declined because of the injury.
 You need to hire a specialized lawyer to help you with the lawsuit. Medical malpractice lawyers will have a good understanding of where to file your case and how to proceed through litigation. In addition, they will often have people on their staff that can read medical records and digest medical information. You can begin by getting referrals. Remember that lawyers must be admitted to practice in a certain state, so you need to find a lawyer who is qualified to practice in the state where you want to sue.


You can get referrals by contacting the state’s bar association, which should run a referral program. You can find contact information by visiting the American Bar Association’s website and clicking on the state.You should look for a lawyer who is licensed in your state and in the state where the doctor lives or practices. Some lawyers are licensed to practice in more than one state.
You can also look for law firms that have offices in your state and the state where you intend to sue.
Make sure that any lawyer you hire has experience litigating and settling similar cases to yours. This is important to ensure you get the best representation possible.
 You may be in a lot of pain because of the mistreatment you have received. Nevertheless, you don’t have an unlimited amount of time to bring a lawsuit. Instead, each state has a “statute of limitations.” This is the maximum amount of time you can wait to bring your lawsuit.Each state sets its own statute of limitations. In Oklahoma, for example, you have two years from the date of injury.In New Hampshire, by contrast, you have three years.The deadline can be extended in some situations. Many states follow the “discovery rule.” This means the clock starts ticking when you first discover your injury. For example, a doctor might have accidentally left a sponge inside you during surgery. After three years, you start developing complications. Although your state has a two-year statute of limitations, the clock doesn’t begin to run until you had reason to believe that you had a medical malpractice case., Once you have a referral, you can call up the lawyer and ask to schedule a consultation. Ask what you need to bring and how much the consultation will cost. Most consultations last a half hour or so.


You should also come up with a set of questions to ask at the consultation. See Prepare for a First Meeting with Your Lawyer for help drafting questions.
If you can’t travel to meet the lawyer, then ask to have a consultation by telephone.
 At your consultation, the lawyer will ask you questions about your case. There should also be time for your questions. One topic you should discuss is fees. You might not have a lot of money to hire a lawyer, so make sure to ask the lawyer what options are available for paying fees.


Many personal injury lawyers will agree to work “on contingency.” This means they don’t get paid unless they win the case. If you win, they take a percentage of your settlement amount or jury verdict (usually 33-40%).You also have to pay the costs of the lawsuit. Costs include fees for filing, court reporters, and expert witnesses. Medical malpractice cases have extraordinarily high expert witness fees. This is the case because you will need to get multiple doctors and other healthcare professionals to testify on your behalf. Some lawyers will advance you the costs of the lawsuit and then deduct the amount from your settlement or jury award.
 You may be prepared to sue in another state, but it can’t hurt to take another look at whether you can sue in your home state. Ask your lawyer whether you might be able to bring a lawsuit in your home state. Generally, you can sue someone in a state if they have sufficient “minimum contacts” with the state.In practice, this usually means the following:


The person you want to sue has a home in your state.
The person you want to sue works in your state.
 Because you are trying to sue someone in another state, you will most likely meet federal diversity of citizenship requirements, which will allow you to bring your case in federal court. In addition to having a plaintiff and defendant from different states, you must also allege over $75,000 in damages, which should be easy in a wrongful death suit.Filing in federal court may be advantageous because federal judges often have more experience handling complicated cases. However, federal lawsuits often take longer than state cases. Talk with each lawyer to see what the best option is.


Make sure that if you want to file in federal court, the lawyer you hire is licensed to practice there. Lawyers have to get licensed in federal court before they can bring a case there.
 The lawyer will need to analyze whether you have a strong enough case to bring a medical malpractice claim. Not all poor treatment qualifies as medical malpractice. Instead, you will need evidence of the following elements in order to bring your case:The medical professional owed you a duty of reasonable care. This should be easy to prove if you had a doctor-patient relationship, or if the medical professional who injured you (such as a nurse) worked for the doctor or hospital. These medical professionals must provide at least the care that a reasonably careful professional would provide in similar circumstances.
The medical professional breached their duty. This means the care they offered did not satisfy the standard of care required of medical professionals.
The breach caused your injury. You might be paralyzed, for example, but you have to prove that the doctor’s failure to follow acceptable standards of care caused the injury. In some situations, nothing a doctor could have done would have prevented your injury. In that situation, you can’t sue.
You suffered damages as a result of the breach. If you didn’t suffer an injury, then you don’t have a medical malpractice case. Instead, you must suffer physical, emotional, or financial harm.
 In some states, you need to have a doctor certify that your case has merit before you can file a lawsuit. The purpose of this step is to weed out frivolous lawsuits. In order to get a certificate, a physician must review your medical records and certify that the health professional you are suing did not follow the standard of care.Your lawyer will then file the certificate of merit with the appropriate authorities.
 Your lawyer will start the lawsuit by filing a complaint in court. This document gives the judge critical information at the start of the case. A complaint should contain the following:your name as the “plaintiff”
the names of who you are suing as “defendants”
the court’s power to hear the case (“jurisdiction”)
the facts surrounding the dispute
all of your legal claims (e.g., medical malpractice)
what you want the judge to give you (usually money damages)
whether you want a jury

, You have to give the defendant notice that they are being sued. You can provide this notice by sending a copy of the complaint and a summons, which you get from the court clerk.Your lawyer will arrange service, which must satisfy the rules of the state where you are suing.
 The defendant will have a certain number of days to respond to your lawsuit. Typically, the defendant will respond by filing one of two documents:


An answer. In this document, the defendant responds to each allegation in your complaint, admitting or denying each.
A motion to dismiss. The defendant also might challenge your ability to bring the lawsuit by pointing to some defect in your complaint. For example, the defendant might claim they didn’t owe you a duty of reasonable care because you didn’t have a doctor-patient relationship. In that situation, the defendant will argue that you have not made out a valid legal claim., Each lawsuit has a long stage called “discovery.” During discovery, each side can request information so that they can develop their case. Discovery is usually a long process. Your lawyer can use the following techniques:Request for document production. The defendant probably has documents you want to see, such as any notes not in your file or any emails that discuss your treatment. Your lawyer can request copies of them.
Interrogatories. These are written questions which you serve on the defendant. The defendant must answer them under oath.
Requests for admission. You can narrow down the issues in dispute by serving requests for admission. These are a set of facts you ask the other side to agree to. If they agree to a fact, then it is considered proven at trial. For example, you might get the defendant to agree to the date of surgery and the purpose of the surgery.
Depositions. You can have witnesses answer questions under oath in a deposition. A court reporter will record the questions and answers. A deposition is an excellent way to figure out exactly what happened. For example, if you were injured in surgery, then you probably have no idea what went wrong since you weren’t conscious.
 As part of discovery, you will probably have to sit for a deposition. The doctor’s lawyer will ask you questions under oath.You can prepare for it in the following manner:


Talk to your lawyer, who might want to do a practice deposition to get you ready.
Review key documents so that your testimony will be consistent with them.
Remember not to guess during the deposition. If you don’t know something, it is acceptable to say, “I don’t know.”

, You will need an expert witness to testify for you at trial. This expert will explain complicated medical concepts to the jury and will also offer important opinions about the evidence. Your lawyer should know where to find experts.


Your expert will need to testify as to whether the doctor’s course of treatment satisfied the standard of care.Without an expert, you probably can’t establish that the doctor breached their duty of care.
Your expert also needs to testify that the doctor’s treatment caused your injuries. This is another critical element of your case.
 After discovery ends, the defendant might try to win the case without going to trial by filing a motion for summary judgment. In this document, the defendant argues there are no set of facts that will allow you to win the lawsuit so the judge should decide the case in the defendant’s favor.


Your lawyer will try to defeat the motion by pointing to factual issues in dispute. Often, whether the doctor’s course of treatment met the standard of care is an issue with no clear answer.
Your lawyer will file a motion in opposition and argue it in front of the judge. If you win, the case will continue on to trial.
 You should always discuss settlement with your lawyer. A medical malpractice lawsuit is time consuming, and you risk losing the case and not getting anything at all for your injuries.For these reasons, talk to your lawyer about whether settlement is a good idea.


Also discuss how much you could get in a settlement. The amount will depend on the strength of your evidence and the strength of the doctor’s defense. The stronger your case, the more money you can get.
If you agree to settle, you will have to sign a release, which means you can’t sue the doctor again for the same injury. For this reason, be sure to get as much compensation as you can in the settlement.
 You should talk with your lawyer about what you will need to do at trial, if anything. Medical malpractice trials follow a similar pattern, such as the following:Jury selection. If either you or the defendant requested a jury, then you will need to select jurors. The judge and lawyers will ask jurors questions to try and uncover bias. Any biased juror will be excused, and those who aren’t excused will sit on the jury.
Opening statements. Each lawyer gets to tell the jury what the evidence will show.
Your case. As the person bringing the lawsuit, you will go first. Your witnesses will include anyone willing to testify on your behalf, such as nurses and your medical expert. Because you are claiming you were injured, you will have to testify. Your lawyer should help prepare you for your testimony.
The defense case. The defendant can also have witnesses testify, including an expert. Your lawyer can cross-examine the defense witnesses.
Closing argument. Each lawyer gets to summarize the evidence and argue to the jury why the evidence shows their side should win.
 The jury will analyze the evidence based on the “preponderance of the evidence.” This means the jury can only decide for you if the evidence shows it is “more likely than not” that the malpractice caused your injuries.If you win, you have to collect on your judgment. See Collect a Court Ordered Judgment for more information.
Obtain copies of your medical records.
Write down your memories.
Take photographs of your injuries.
Collect medical bills.
Identify other injuries you can be compensated for.
Get referrals to a lawyer.
Avoid delay.
Prepare for your consultation.
Discuss fees.
Analyze whether you can sue in your state.
Assess the possibility of bringing your case in federal court.
Ask the lawyer to analyze your case.
Get a certificate of merit.
File a complaint.
Serve notice of the lawsuit on the defendant.
Read the defendant’s response.
Engage in fact-finding.
Sit for a deposition.
Hire an expert witness.
Defend against a motion for summary judgment.
Consider settling the lawsuit.
Go to trial.
Receive the verdict.
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