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A Los Angles medical malpractice attorney is much like a referee in a football game or soccer match. Part of what he or she does is make sure there is a level playing field in a court of law for the plaintiff.
How so? The Los Angeles personal injury attorney is represents a plaintiff – you, the individual who has suffered harm as a result of a misdiagnosis or treatment of a medical condition – in a fight against a physician, a physician’s practice or a large hospital organization. As the defendants face a lawsuit filed by a medical malpractice attorney in Los Angeles, the doctor or hospital is amply prepared with deep pockets and perceived expertise.
Justice should prevail, in the end. But for that to happen, it is almost always essential that the attorney hire an expert witness, someone whose education, board certifications and work experience can stand up against the defendant’s considerable resources. That expert witness, often but not always a medical doctor, enters the court with an authority developed over years of practice. The expert witness will also be a good communicator, someone who can translate terminology to a non-expert audience, the judge and jury.
Erroneous dismissal of symptoms is common
The success of a Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney quite often hinges on the strength of expert testimony. This is because the mistake itself is the lynchpin of the case, and only a qualified individual can adequately detail the error.
Consider the frequent situation of an erroneous dismissal of symptoms. It is quite common for a Los Angeles personal injury attorney to be approached by a potential client about a doctor’s failure to recognize a dangerous and life-threatening condition.
For example, when abdominal distress is passed off as constipation or indigestion, but it turns out to be appendicitis. Or when a splinter or chip of bone is lodged into soft tissue or the cause of internal bleeding, yet undiscovered. It’s quite possible the attending physician followed a procedure that is considered appropriate, but may have failed to take one or two additional steps that would have indicated the patient’s condition was more serious. In other situations, the physician may recommend an unusual or unproven course of treatment that results in an outcome that is worse than if conventional treatment had been pursued.
A medical malpractice attorney in Los Angeles may understand exactly where the error occurred. The defendant can testify as to what questions were asked, how the symptoms were discussed and, of course, the difficult outcome due to the misdiagnosis. But only a properly qualified, well-spoken expert witness will be able to make a convincing case in court.
It has to be the right expert
But not just any doctor selected by a Los Angles medical malpractice attorney will do.
A decision in the Court of Appeal of California affirmed the trial court’s decision against a plaintiff in 2007 on the basis of the wrong type of doctor being used as an expert witness. The plaintiff (and her medical malpractice attorney in Los Angeles) seemed to have a good case: She went to an emergency room at a hospital in Marina Del Rey with severe abdominal pain, constipation, distension in the stomach and some tenderness in that same area. Yet, she was told she was just constipated and was prescribed an over-the-counter laxative.
After ten days, it was determined she had a perforated appendix with several complications that required emergency surgery and 13 days hospitalization. Her suit against the hospital should have succeeded, but the expert witness selected to present her case was a board certified internist and cardiologist, when in fact the mistakes occurred in an emergency room. A board certified emergency room physician would have been more appropriate.
She lost the case. Clearly, her Los Angeles personal injury attorney made his own error in selecting this expert witness.
Contact Los Angeles Medical Malpractice Attorneys
If you have sustained an injury due to medical malpractice and are ready to learn how our Los Angeles medical malpractice attorneys can assist you and your family, please call us today for a free consultation about medical malpractice.
David Drexler is an expert trial attorney who will provide you with wise and compassionate legal counsel and representation through each stage of the process. Remember, you pay nothing if we don’t win your case.
You can contact Los Angeles medical malpractice attorney David Drexler by email, by calling 1-877-99-LA-LAW (1-877-995-2529) or by filling out the form below.
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