Most Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Are Dropped by Plaintiffs Prior to Settlement or Verdict

According to a study published in the journal HealthAffairs, plaintiffs abandon the majority of medical malpractice lawsuits before they are resolved in court or with a settlement. The main reasons for this are costs and finding out that a case is not as solid as initially thought. The findings in this report support why it is so important that from the start you are represented by a Boston medical malpractice law firm that understands the nature of what happened and how to prove liability.

The study examined the conclusions of 3,695 Massachusetts medical malpractice claims filed against medical providers between 2006 and 2010:

• 59% of the medical malpractice claims were dropped • 26% percent were settled • 15% were adjudicated
Cases were usually dropped at around the 3-year mark, when the stress of a claim starts to take its emotional toll.

Losing someone you love because of medical negligence is a serious matter and proving liability is tough and time consuming. You want to make sure that you are working with a Boston injury lawyer that understand the complexity of your case and can accurately determine early on whether you should pursue your claim. Granted, sometimes certain evidence or facts don’t present themselves until later one after a lawsuit is well underway, but the right legal experience and resources can decrease the chances of such problems later,

There is a lot of evidence that your Boston injury law firm will need to gather and examined to prove physician error, anesthesia mistakes, surgical malpractice, hospital negligence, nursing negligence, prescription mix-ups, hospital-caused infections, wrong diagnosis, delayed diagnosis, birthing malpractice, and other medical mistakes.

Dropped malpractice lawsuits cost legal system time and money, Boston.com, July 7, 2011
Golann: Time to Change Tack on Malpractice Claims, July 7, 2011

Related Web Resources:

HealthAffairs

Medical Malpractice, Nolo

More Blog Posts:
$2.6M Worcester, Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Verdict Awarded to Man Who Ended Up with Surgical Tack Inside His Small Bowel, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, June 23, 2011
Massachusetts Dental Malpractice Can Cause Serious Injuries, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 30, 2011
$7M Massachusetts Medical Malpractice Settlement Awarded to Parents Whose Child Was Born with a Genetic Defect, Boston Injury Lawyer Blog, May 6, 2011

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