Collecting Evidence in a West Palm Beach Medical Malpractice Case

When a patient goes to a doctor, they are entrusting their health and well-being to the medical professional. The violation of that trust can have life-altering consequences, and in the worst case scenario, it can result in catastrophic injuries. However, if you have sustained injuries due to medical malpractice, you have the option to pursue a medical malpractice case. Medical malpractice cases are primarily concerned with proving that the medical professional in question’s actions were negligent.

Collecting evidence in a West Palm Beach medical malpractice case is the first step to proving negligence. If you have sustained injuries as a result of medical malpractice, contact an experienced attorney who can collect necessary evidence and use that evidence to build your case.

Process of Investigating a Case

The typical procedure when investigating a medical malpractice case involves:

• Gathering the relevant medical records relevant
• Speaking to all healthcare providers involved
• Speaking to the patient and family members or friends who have information to share
• Hiring experts to evaluate whether the care provided was good and reasonable
• Making a determination as to whether there is a valid case

The process for gathering the evidence is similar across all types of cases because the fundamentals are the same. The lawyer needs to know what is in the medical records and they need to know what the patient and the patient’s family have to say. The lawyer combines those two sources of information and presents that to experts to evaluate the quality of the case. The type of evidence the lawyer looks for in a medical malpractice case is the story of who was there combined with the medical records. One of the important things to remember is that medical records are often incomplete or inaccurate and are not reliable by themselves.

Gathering Evidence

The procedure of collecting evidence in a West Palm Beach medical malpractice case starts with interviewing the client, family members and friends who have knowledge about the case and the facts, and gathering the relevant medical records. The lawyer gathers evidence by meeting with witnesses, requesting records, and sometimes asking the client to get their own records before the healthcare professional knows that a lawyer might be involved.

The lawyer looks for medical record evidence, the condition of the patient, evidence from people who were there with their story about what was wrong with the patient, the type of care given, and whether it was good or bad. When the care was given was bad, what harm was caused.

Generally, it takes about two to three months to collect the medical records and conduct the interviews before the lawyer talks to the experts and has the case evaluated. Once the lawsuit is filed, it generally takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months before the case is over.

How an Attorney Uses Evidence

After collecting evidence in a West Palm Beach medical malpractice case, the attorney must hire the best experts possible, take the depositions of the healthcare professionals involved, and prepare the exhibits for trial. Typically, the lawyer must survive motions the defense uses to try to throw the case out. When those motions are successfully defeated, the lawyer is ready to go to trial. It is important for the client to be able to help the lawyer in gathering the evidence. If you have sustained injuries as the result of a medical malpractice, get in touch with a skilled lawyer for assistance in collecting evidence in your West Palm Beach medical malpractice case.