Filing a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Unlike other kinds of injury-related claims, bringing a medical malpractice lawsuit in your state's court system often means jumping through a number of procedural hoops, like filing a "certificate of merit" or submitting your claim to a pre-lawsuit "screening panel." And once you comply with these rules, you'll need to prove that the health care provider's conduct fell short of acceptable medical standards. In this section, we cover what it takes to file (and win) a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Thinking about a medical malpractice lawsuit? We'll help you decide whether it makes sense and if it does, we outline the basic steps involved in filing.

If you’re filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, you may need to file this key document alongside the initial complaint.

Medical malpractice lawsuits must be filed within a certain amount of time after the patient's injury, but when does the clock start ticking?

The "medical standard of care" is the legal yardstick that's used to determine whether a health care provider might be liable for medical malpractice.

Expert witness testimony is essential to most medical malpractice cases. It pays to learn ahead of time why expert testimony is crucial in medical malpractice cases, what that testimony consists of, who may serve as an expert, and when an expert might not be necessary.

Medical malpractice damages can include recovery for pain and suffering, medical bills, and reduced quality of life.

An injured patient's "pain and suffering" can have a big impact on the value of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

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