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Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyer

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Maryland medical malpractice lawyer attorneys are personal injury lawyers who specialize in medical malpractice cases, which occur when a medical professional has acted negligently and therefore caused illness, injury or other harm to a patient. A medical malpractice suit may also be brought in cases of wrongful death. Some common examples of medical malpractice cases are misdiagnosis, lack of diagnosis, medication errors, surgical errors, or leaving surgical instruments or other foreign bodies inside a patient after invasive surgery.

Nearly three-quarters of settled medical malpractice cases involved a medical error. Medical errors harm about 1.5 million people every year.

Medical malpractice is defined as an act or an omission by a health care provider who is professionally negligent, and the care that was provided is not of accepted standards in the medical community, and also causes death or injury to a patient. It is a form of tort law, and has been established to provide economic remedies to patients who have suffered at the hands of a health care provider, such as a doctor, nurse, dentist, pharmacist, aide, or even a hospital or other health-care institution.

Medical malpractice law is a highly technical area of law, and because of this, malpractice lawsuits tend to be complicated and protracted. Even within the specialized practice of medical malpractice law, lawyers may have subspecialties of practice. For example, some lawyers may focus on surgical errors or errors in prescribing medication, while others concentrate on misdiagnosis or birth trauma cases.

Expert witnesses are usually required in a medical malpractice case, in order to establish the accepted standard of care that should have been adhered to by the medical professional in question, and to establish that the standard was not met. These are two of the conditions of proving negligence. It must be further proven that damages were incurred by the patient in the form of illness or injury as a result of the medical professional's breach of duty.

You may receive compensation in your medical malpractice case for injury, time lost from work, and pain and suffering. Since so many medical malpractice cases are brought, you may be required to undergo mediation before taking your case to court, in order to relieve the overloaded court docket. Some medical malpractice cases are settled out of court, but they are few and far between. Your attorney will be able to advise you regarding these matters, as well as answering any other questions you might have about your case.

If you have decided to pursue a medical malpractice case, it's important to find an attorney who has handled cases similar to yours and been successful. It's also important to choose someone with whom you feel you can work comfortably, since the case will most likely take several years before it is concluded. If you cannot pay an attorney, that need not be a concern, as most attorneys specializing in medical malpractice will offer a free initial consultation, during which they will analyze the evidence and determine whether or not you have an actionable case, as well as a contingency-fee agreement. This means that your attorney will not require payment up front, but will take fees from the settlement or award after your case has been resolved.