Q: I suffered burns and disfigurement (scarring) from my knees down on both my legs after a cosmetic laser session
This was a final treatment after 12 years of medical care on other issues to remove unsightly veins on both legs. How do I go about finding a medical negligence attorney to take my case. I have major anxiety over showing my legs now and swelling when on my feet for periods of time. I had 12 years of cost on fixing this problem and this was supposed to clean things up appearance wise and instead gave me permanent damage. I'm at a loss!
A:
The bad news is that medical malpractice claims are tough, filled with procedural hurdles, and expensive. The good news is that there is no shortage of med-mal attorneys willing to take on good cases. Most good med-mal attorneys have a pretty comprehensive case screening process, that often involves a medical record review by a medical professional on staff or contracted to the firm. To begin the process, firms may ask you to submit all the medical records you have to them. If they believe your case has merit (i.e. they can win, and win a sizeable amount of damages), they will be in touch with you about proceeding forward.
I would add that lawsuits in general really come down to cases being a "win-win" for both the client and attorney. Taking on a plaintiff's side case is a gamble on the attorney's part - hence the claim you hear on TV of "we don't get paid unless you do". Well, to make good on that, and to maintain a business, attorneys need to weigh each case to determine 1) whether there is a valid claim they can prevail on, and 2) if they do win, what are the damages. Many people have legally valid claims, but the amount of damages just aren't there to justify an attorney devoting the amount of time it would take to handle the case. Not saying that is the case with you at all since it sounds like you have some permanent damage unfortunately.
My advice is to simply keep calling attorneys that do med-mal practice. If you have a claim, someone will take it.
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