General Medical Malpractice Resources | CHH Law

  Every year, thousands of surgical errors occur in the United States, many of which are the result of negligence by a surgeon. “Surgical negligence” is not the same thing as a “bad outcome” following surgery, but the two categories do overlap.  Specifically, there are certain bad outcomes, sometimes called “known complications” of surgery, which […]
Surgical Errors

What is Informed Consent and How Can it Help Prevent Medical Malpractice? Informed consent is integral to the doctor-patient relationship. Patients need to trust and rely on their doctors to use their extensive training and experience to heal them. That does not mean you should be left in the dark when it comes to making […]
Medical Malpractice + Patient Safety

If you, or someone you love, are the victim of medical malpractice, finding a good medical malpractice lawyer is very important. If you are like most people the only thing you know about medical malpractice law is what you have seen on TV commercials and billboards. Most of those advertisements will give you the impression […]
Medical Malpractice

A spinal cord injury is a terrible event.  It will change victims’ lives dramatically, leaving them to deal with problems like difficulty breathing, paralysis, and often bouts of severe pain.  Every year around 17,000 spinal cord injuries (SCI) occur in the United States. Unfortunately, 5% of those injuries occur as a result of medical/surgical procedures. […]
Medical Error + Medical Malpractice + Surgical Errors

A bad outcome to a medical procedure is the last thing anyone plans on when going to the doctor.  After all, you go to the doctor to be healed. It is possible, however, that despite a doctor’s best efforts you won’t get better. If a doctor does the best job he or she can do […]
Doctor Errors

Victims of Medical Malpractice Often Need Help Overcoming Guilt When a client comes to talk to us about whether they should file a medical malpractice case or not, one of the greatest hurdles that we have to overcome right away is guilt. Surprisingly, when we talk to people about the fact that doctors were responsible […]
Medical Malpractice

Analyzing Records for Medical Malpractice Victims The essence of evaluating a medical malpractice case is determining what happened and how the injury occurred. We have a great deal of experience in practicing medicine. We understand how the health care system works, how people keep records, and this knowledge is very valuable to try to determine, in […]
Medical Malpractice

Helping medical malpractice victims is our sole focus here at CHH. People come into our office because they’re hurting deeply and they want an answer to the pain that they’re feeling. We tell them right off the bat that what we cannot do is fix their pain. However, what we can do is hold people accountable […]
Civil Justice + Medical Malpractice

You may have seen ads on TV or on billboards for medical malpractice lawyers and their firms.  You may have heard of someone who was part of a medical malpractice lawsuit. You may even have heard people on the news discussing medical malpractice.  This all may lead you to ask: “What is Medical Malpractice?” What […]
Medical Malpractice

Believe it or not, people struggle over the decision to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.  The difficult decision to sue a doctor can be very frustrating. Often it comes down to the negative stereotypes people have regarding medical malpractice lawsuits, as we talked about in our last post. However, in some cases, people feel guilty. This […]
Medical Malpractice

There’s a lot of bad information about medical malpractice lawsuits. Some think it’s a “get rich” quick scheme and sadly too many lawyer advertisements make it seem that way, but it is not. Others think medical malpractice cases are a scourge that must be stopped. This thinking has caused legislators to pass tort reform laws that make […]
Civil Justice + Medical Error + Medical Malpractice + Patient Safety

“How long will a medical malpractice lawsuit take?” We get asked this question often. The answer, regardless of where you live, is two to four years.  There are two main reasons for this: First, doctors and hospitals are never in a rush to move the suit along. Some of this foot-dragging is done strategically to harm […]
Medical Malpractice

Capping the amount of damages a patient can recover in a medical malpractice lawsuit does not lower healthcare costs or improve patient safety, according to a recent study. New research out of the University of Illinois shows that limiting the ability of juries to decide medical malpractice cases does not lower healthcare costs. The cost […]

Your (the plaintiff’s) deposition is probably the most important part of a medical case. At CHH no one gives a deposition unprepared. We will meet with all of our witnesses before their deposition to describe what can be expected and to help them do well. A deposition of the plaintiff has three primary purposes. First, […]

In most states, there are three stages of discovery in medical malpractice cases. First Stage In the first stage most of the questions are directed to the parties only – the plaintiffs and the defendants. Second Stage During the second stage the parties will ask questions of all non-party witnesses, such as your family (who […]

There are different ways for lawyers to get the information they need in discovery. One way is to use written questions called interrogatories. Another is to convene a deposition. A deposition describes the giving of live testimony under oath. In a deposition you or another witness is asked questions by the lawyers. Though very important, […]

Discovery is the term used to describe the investigation process that occurs once a case is filed and answered. Compliance with discovery is mandatory for all parties. The idea behind discovery is that if both sides knew each other’s case before trial, the trial would be more fair and the parties would have a better […]

Medical experts are used to define how a doctor’s actions are negligent in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Nearly every patient has who has suffered an unexpected negative medical outcome has questions regarding the actions of the doctor involved. As patients, we do not have the medical training necessary to know whether proper procedures were followed […]

Differential Diagnosis – General You’d agree that whenever a doctor sees a patient with abnormal signs or symptoms he is required by the standard of care to formulate a differential diagnosis, correct? It would be a breach of the standard of care if a doctor reaches a conclusion or diagnosis without using the differential diagnosis […]

While a bad outcome from medical care is not necessarily the result of malpractice, the error causing a patient’s injury may sometime not be obvious – even to the physicians themselves. It often takes both a legal and medical background plus the deductive and analytical skills of a Sherlock Holmes to unearth the hidden cause […]