Macomb County Attorney Discusses Medical Malpractice

If you are the victim of malpractice or your loved one or friend and that’s why you are here, you’re generally coming to us to find out information.

Medical malpractice cases are not like auto accidents where, if you’re sitting at a light and someone rear ends you, and something bad happens to you, you know that someone else caused that and they are at fault. Medical Malpractice doesn’t work that way. Generally something very bad has happened. Something very serious has happened. It could be a death. It could be an injury resulting in disability or permanent pain.

The difference between an auto accident and a malpractice case is it’s not very easy to figure out what happened except in very few cases where it’s obvious, if they leave behind some hemostat or medical tool. I mean, we see that unfortunately. But generally they are not that clear. Something very bad and unanticipated has happened. You typically try to get answers from the medical profession and this wall of silence comes down.

That’s generally when I see people. They come in and what they are after primarily is answers. The want to know what’s happened. Why did this happen? No one will talk to me, and finally, was it malpractice? Did somebody do something that they should not have done that has caused this injury to me or my family member or good friend?

So that’s typically, when I encounter someone. They want answers. Actually very low on their list is seeking compensation. In fact a lot of times I’ll have people tell me, look, I’m not here for the money. I never thought I would be suing anyone, let alone my doctor. But I’ve got a big problem, and nobody’s talking to me. So that’s generally the situation when we see people. And almost to a person they say, “even if we don’t get compensation”. But when they find out someone has done something wrong, and many times, hidden it from them, they want to pursue the claim because they don’t want it to happen to somebody else. It’s a very, very common thing I hear when I’m sitting in my office listening to people who have been victims of medical malpractice.

So, the process is fairly simple. We don’t charge any fee unless there’s a recovery. So it costs you nothing to come in and meet with us and that’s suggest you do. Either call and speak with me personally or call my secretary and set up an appointment and come on in and let’s talk about it.

If we decide to move forward, the next step is to accumulate all of your medical records. And then, finally, get those records off to a specialist. A doctor, a nurse, whoever you think.

Whoever we think might be responsible for your problem, we have to get that same specialist. If it’s an orthopedic surgeon, we have to have an orthopedic surgeon look at it. If it’s anesthesiologist, an anesthesiologist has to look at it and they tell us whether or not there is a malpractice case.

Without getting into lot of detail, these malpractice cases are very time sensitive. You shouldn’t feel guilty about talking to a personal injury lawyer. If you wait too long, you’ll feel bad because you won’t be able to find a lawyer. As soon as the questions start coming up in your mind, you need to talk to a lawyer. It doesn’t cost you anything. We’re not going to take a bad case or a case that doesn’t merit filing. We are selective because these cases are so expensive and time consuming. I probably have more medical malpractice cases referred to me than any other kind of case and I’m proud of that fact. Most of them come from other lawyers and I’m proud of that fact as well.