Napoli Bern Ripka, LLP Blog

Medical malpractice can become a very controversial issue if pursed in a certain direction. When kids are growing up they say they want to be an astronaut or a ninja but their parents chime in, “little Johnny is going to become a doctor or lawyer, isn’t that right.”  Doctors are thought as the crème of the crop, the cat’s meow, and any other ridiculous metaphor for the big cheese you can think of. Doctor’s represent the top of the class and are thought of as healers, fixers, and miracle workers. However, what happens when they make a mistake causing serious injury or death to their patients. Are doctors still looked up to and idolized now? I don’t think so.

            People are engaged in a dilemma that poses the following question trust the once trusted, or trust the proof. All of this time a person has put complete trust in their doctor revealing things that not even their spouses knows. However when a doctor breaks this trust it is hard for a patient to completely abandon them. In instances of medical malpractice sometimes patients that were harmed look the other way. People do this for a couple of reasons one being that they don’t want the person they have been seeing for years to get into trouble. I know this sounds wacky, but it is completely legitimate. People have put so much trust in their doctors that when it is broken they don’t want to realize that they might have made a mistake. Therefore a patient will not hire a malpractice attorney, will not file a lawsuit, and will not gain compensation that their doctor caused them.

            When a trusted doctor commits medical malpractice another reason why a patient will not contact a malpractice attorney to file a claim is because they think it is their fault. This happens a lot because a patient thinks it is there body and therefore their fault. However this is false thinking because even though it is their body, the doctor has a duty of care to their patient. This duty of care includes coming up with the best treatment plan and performing it to the best of their abilities. When a doctor fails to live up to his or her end of the agreement it is their responsibility to face the consequences. This is when a malpractice attorney needs to be called by the patient so that they can litigate for proper compensation.

            Patients also will think that suing their doctor will cause the community to look down on them. The same doctor that committed the medical malpractice against you has also been seeing others in your community. Therefore, if you file a lawsuit against both your and their doctor, it could cause problems for others as well. Whether it is having to get another doctor, or realizing that the doctor they trusted is not what he or she lived up to be. This could also be a good thing because people in your community might realize that the same doctor, who committed medical malpractice against you, also committed medical malpractice against them. Therefore the members in your community will more likely benefit from you filing a suit then from letting it go.