Q: How serious of an injury do I need to have suffered in order to win a med mal case against a major hospital?

A: “Winning” is determined not by how injured or damaged you are, but how strong your evidence is that your doctor breached the standard of care he owed to you when providing your medical care. The standard of care must be established by another physician with the expertise to define what that standard is for the type and nature of treatment you were receiving for your health issue. You would then need expert medical testimony that the doctor breached that standard of care, and that breach proximately caused your injuries and damages. The value of your case depends on how serious you were injured by the doctor’s breach of the duty of care.

A: The question is not about winning and losing. You can win a malpractice case with minimal injuries. The problem is finding a lawyer willing to handle a smaller case who is willing to front the expense in the case and accept losing that money if the case is no successful. If the injuries are not significant and they resolve, the cost of preparing such a case for trial and trying the case (which you almost certainly will do in a low stakes case) may exceed the potential verdict a jury would award.

A: Given the manner in which medical malpractice cases are typically handled on a contingency basis, it would generally need to be an injury that a law firm would be willing to invest the time and expense in litigating to demonstrate that there were damages as a result of a breach of duty on the part of a medical provider.

Tim Akpinar