Q: What is generally the hardest thing to prove in a medical malpractice case, and why do most cases settle out of court?
A: Most cases settle out of court if they do at all due to risk management--jurors have been preconditioned by insurance advertising right in the doctors office to be suspicious, to feel threatened by malpractice claims. The biggest problem is ususally proving causation--that it was the doctors failure to act/diagnose/test that caused an issue that wouldn't have happened but for that case. Most jurors give the doctor a lot of cred and have a "what do you expect him to do..." Add to this that many patients have bad follow up, or don't sometimes do what they are supposed to do, so it's "causation" of the harm that's the big focus.
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