Hammond, IN Medical Malpractice Lawyer 

Doctors, nurses, and various other medical professionals have extremely important jobs. Sick and injured patients rely on these people for care. When medical professionals make mistakes, patients can suffer. Sometimes, issues come from more than complications. In cases of medical malpractice, you can sue for damages.

Medical malpractice is typically based on negligence. Negligence can be broadly defined as inexcusable carelessness, but the definition is more complex and nuanced in a legal setting. Not all mistakes by doctors are malpractice. However, mistakes due to negligence may give rise to a legal claim against the doctor and, potentially, the hospital they work for.

Our Hammond, IN medical malpractice lawyers can help you get just compensation if you recently received poor medical treatment and suffered injuries. Contact the offices of Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 for a free initial case review on your lawsuit.

What Is a Medical Practice Lawsuit in Hammond, IN?

Indiana law provides us with a definition of malpractice under Indiana Code § 34-18-2-18. According to the law, malpractice is a tort based on health care or health services that were provided or should have been provided to a patient by a health care professional. If you are concerned about your medical situation, speak with our Hammond, IN medical malpractice attorneys right away.

Medical malpractice is usually based on the tort of negligence. As such, plaintiffs must prove four crucial elements:

1. The defendant owed the patient a duty of care,
2. The defendant breached that duty of care,
3. The breach caused the patient's injuries,
4. The patient suffered real injuries and damages.

In the world of medical malpractice, health care professionals owe a duty of care to act as reasonably competent healthcare professionals would under the same circumstances. For example, a doctor's decision to prescribe certain medications could cause serious and painful side effects. If a reasonable doctor would never have prescribed this particular medication to this particular patient, there could be arguments made for medication error malpractice.

How Do I File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Hammond, IN?

Our Hammond, IN medical malpractice attorneys, can help you file your malpractice complaint and start your case. First, we must overcome some hurdles that do not crop up in other injury lawsuits. Specifically, under Indiana Code § 34-18-8-4, your case must be reviewed by a medical review panel before proceeding. According to Indiana Code § 34-18-10-2, we have 20 days from the date we file your complaint to request a Medical Review Panel.

This Panel consists of medical professionals who evaluate your case and determine if the evidence supports your claims. The Panel's final opinion is not binding, and we can still proceed with your case if the Panel's opinion is not in our favor.

Panels consist of four members, including one attorney and three medical professionals. The attorney typically acts as a chairperson of the panel, offering legal advice and guidance to the other members. The medical professionals usually work within the medical field most relevant to your case, and there are specific rules regarding areas of specialty that apply depending on the nature of the medical error. Only the three medical professionals have a vote in the review's outcome.

It is important to present evidence to the panel to convince them that the defendant failed to act within the relevant standards of medical care. Evidence may include documents, charts, X-rays, witness statements, and anything else we believe is helpful to our case. It often times is useful to retain a medical expert in the specialty at issue as an expert witness to help explain the nature of the malpractice to other members of the panel, including providing applicable medical publications which describe the required processes that should have been followed.

According to Indiana Code § 34-18-10-23, we may present the Panel's expert opinion in our case against the defendant. However, the opinion will not be considered conclusive and can be challenged by the defendant. Likewise, the defendant can admit the panel findings into evidence but we will still be permitted to present contrary evidence.

In our experience, medical review panels (which are usually comprised of doctors and nurses) overwhelmingly side with other doctors and nurses accused of making medical mistakes. This is not surprising, considering that the accused health care providers are often colleagues working in the same community as the doctors on the medical review panel. This should not deter you from pursuing a case of legitimate medical malpractice. It is simply an obstacle that we plan for when we prosecute these cases for our clients.

How Much Money Is My Medical Malpractice Case Worth in Hammond, IN?

The question of how much a case is worth is important to ask. Lawsuits are very serious enterprises and required a significant amount of time and resources by the lawyers involved. Therefore, it is important that the amount you may recover will justify the time and expense of pursuing the case.

How much your case is worth will depend on the injuries and damages you claim. If you or a loved on suffered very extreme injuries because of your doctor's negligence, we can help you claim greater damages. When evaluating damages, various considerations include hospital bills, financial costs incurred after the negligent care, and your pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life resulting from physical impairments arising from the malpractice.

You may recover the money you spent on additional medical procedures or treatments as part of your damages. You can also claim any lost income if the negligent care prevented you from returning to work. If the negligent care provided by the defendant caused you severe physical pain and mental anguish, you may add that to your damages calculation too. Speak to our Hammond, IN medical malpractice attorneys about the damages available in your case.

Under Indiana Code § 34-18-14-3, there may be limits on the amount of money you can recover based on when your case occurred. The total amount recoverable for an injury or death arising from medical malpractice may not exceed $1.8 million for malpractice that happened after June 30, 2019. Your doctor (or their insurance company) would only be responsible for the first $500,000 in damages. The remaining amount is paid by the Indiana Patient's Compensation Fund (PCF) which is a state administered program designed to assist in compensating medical malpractice victims. If you contact us, we will discuss potential limits on your recovery imposed under Indiana law, as the amount may be different in your circumstances.

Negotiating Settlements in Medical Malpractice Cases in Hammond, IN

Not every case will play out in a courtroom. In fact, most cases never make it to a courtroom. Settlement agreements are very common in all kinds of civil lawsuits, including medical malpractice. Our Hammond, IN medical malpractice attorneys have experience with settlement negotiations and can help you get the best settlement possible frequently without having to file a lawsuit.

A settlement agreement is when the defendant agrees to pay a certain sum of money to the plaintiff to cover their damages, and the plaintiff agrees to drop the case. The amount of money involved in a settlement is up for negotiation. If your case is strong, it might be possible to get nearly all your damages covered. Settlement negotiations often take time, and there will be numerous low offers and counteroffers before a final number is reached.

In Indiana Medical Malpractice cases, negotiations are complicated by the fact that you are frequently negotiating against two separate entities: the insurance company which represents the negligent medical provider, as well as the state PCF. If the doctor offers a sufficient portion of the settlement, the PCF will then be responsible for taking over the defense of the case and will then frequently attempt to negotiate a settlement of the PCF’s portion of liability. Needless to say that these negotiations are quite complex. However, over decades we have regularly negotiated successful settlements with both medical providers and the PCF to fairly compensate our clients.

In the event that an agreement cannot be reached with these entities, however, we will be ready to take your case to trial.

Contact Our Hammond, IN Medical Malpractice Attorneys

If you suffered harm at the hands of a trusted doctor, our Hammond, IN medical malpractice attorneys can help you recover just compensation so you can put your life back together. Call our team at Wruck Paupore Injury Lawyers at (219) 322-1166 for a free case evaluation to begin.