Steps to Building a Medical Malpractice Case in Fairfax
The following is taken from an interview with a Fairfax medical malpractice lawyer as he discusses the various steps involved in building a successful medical malpractice claim. To learn more call and schedule a consultation with an attorney today.
Gather Records
The first one is to gather records. You need to marshal together all of the records that show what happened to the patient, what care they received, who the providers were, what medications they were administered, and what tests were run. Only after you have all of these things will you be able to understand what happened.
Initial Case Review
From there the next step once all the records are identified is to do an initial case review. Different attorneys look at this differently, but typically that would be to review the records with a doctor to identify whether there has been a potential breach of the standard of care.
Our office has a physician on staff who will review records on a regular basis. When you have a doctor that you work with on a daily basis and you have that rapport, sometimes you can connect on a deeper level than you might with than consulting an expert. I trust our doctor because I know he will be blunt with me and will give me an honest assessment of the issues. Usually after you identify the potential breach, then you need to actually find an expert who can testify in Virginia as to what the standard of care is and what the breach might have been.
Develop Full Extent of Damages
After gathering the records, you interview witnesses, consult with experts on the liability side and then once you have the liability, then you need to develop the full extent of the damages. Depending on each individual person, that could be as simple as just interviewing friends and family members and fellow congregants in their church, co-workers, and the like, or it can require hiring vocational rehabilitation experts and economists, interviewing former bosses, it really does run the gamut and every case is different, but those are the basic first steps.
What Should Someone Look For When Hiring An Attorney For A Fairfax Medical Malpractice Claim?
What I would say is that you need to look for fit. If you don’t feel that you can get along with the lawyer, then you shouldn’t sign a representation agreement with them because it’s going to be a long relationship, especially in medical malpractice cases. Medical malpractice cases take a long time to pursue, they take a long time to develop, and that’s something that requires that you be comfortable with your attorney in order to be able to go forward.
