Why Don’t You Hear About Doctors Being Successfully Sued for Medical Malpractice?

Doctors are successfully sued regularly. Why don’t you hear about it? The simple answer: gag orders. In every case where settlement is achieved, one of the things the plaintiff trades for cash is silence. Doctors don’t settle lawsuits without the promise of the plaintiff’s agreement not to discuss the specifics or even that they were paid out. The result is the protection of the secret of a physician’s incompetence.

Repeat Offenders

At Robinson LLP, we have sued some doctors more than once. We have certainly received inquiries about the conduct of certain doctors on a frequent basis. Unfortunately, the civil legal process does not result in a physician being “reprimanded” or losing his or her ability to work. Often times, we agree with our clients, it’s unfortunate that we can’t do that.

What Can We Do? 

We can commence a legal action aimed at compensating the injured patient. It is a tragedy that patients are so frequently let down by the medical profession who is supposed to be providing assistance. To add insult to injury, medical mistakes and incompetence are rarely admitted to and virtually never apologized for. It is hard to understand how a physician who is supposed to care about a patient becomes reclusive, evasive and suffers from sudden memory lapses after a mistake is made. Good grief! It’s not as if a settlement to an unfortunate patient comes out of the doctor’s pocket….

A simple search at the courthouse will tell you if a doctor has been sued in that jurisdiction. Unfortunately, few documents are actually filed and it is impossible to tell if the case was successfully resolved. That’s why going to trial once in a while, with positive results, is so important. Cases we have handled like Cooper and Lindahl are important wins that help set the care standard for doctors.

Compensation for Medical Malpractice Cases

In case you feel critical to the fact that we allow our clients to agree to the gag orders, you must remember this: the goal of a lawsuit in medical malpractice is to obtain funds for the injured victim of the malpractice. It is important for the plaintiff to receive financial assistance for his/her care, income replacement, and compensation for pain and suffering. “Teaching the doctor a lesson” or letting the public know the awful truth about the medical care of certain doctors does not buy their victims medical aid, living assistance or replace their missing income. It doesn’t pay rent, mortgages or monthly bills. Once a lawsuit is started, the focus is exclusively a win for our clients, which includes maximizing the potential payout.

Don’t think that doctors are getting away with incompetent treatment of patients. At Robinson LLP, we’ve been part of many successful medical malpractice cases, and we can tell you they are paying.