Part 9 of a series of FAQs at This video answers the question “How does an attorney investigate a medical malpractice claim?” It features Susan Capra, a registered nurse and Chicago medical malpractice attorney who is a partner with Clifford Law Offices (see a transcript of Susan’s answer below). If you think you may have a medical malpractice case, call us at 1 (866) 896-6896. Consulting with one of our experienced medical malpractice attorneys can provide a sound basis on whether to pursue an action in court.
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Susan’s answer:
Susan, you’re also a registered nurse as well as a medical malpractice attorney. How does an attorney investigate a medical malpractice claim?
SAC: Very carefully, and in a very detained and organized manner. Usually, a client will call and there will be some initial questions asked over the phone. What happened, when did it happen? Most clients then will be instructed to get a copy of their medical records and they send the records to us for review. We will review the medical records. We may do some medical research, so literature searches to research the particular topic and then a meeting is set up with the client and at that meeting we want to go into detail about what happened. We might want to talk to the client about their health history to see if they’ve had any similar problems. We might get some authorizations signed to get other related medical records. We might ask them to write a written summary about what happened with their case. The medical records John sometimes only tells half the story. There is a lot that may be missing so sometimes we ask the client, “give us your side in writing.” It’s a time for the client to ask questions. After the client meeting, we will obtain additional records we may obtain films, pathology slides, we will then do a review in-house of all of this relevant information and if you are with an attorney who does a lot of this, they will have a pretty good idea if there is something here that merits going forward with the case.
The next step, which is unique to medical malpractice cases, is sending the case out to an expert for review to find out if it has merit. And often times in the cases John, it may be multiple experts that will need to review the records. Going back to our example of a breast cancer case. You may need to send the records to an internist who initially the lump for review. If a mammogram was done, you may have to send those records and films to a radiologist to see if the film was interpreted correctly. You may need to send those records to an oncologist who is gonna determine what difference that delay in diagnosis made. So, there may be multiple expert reviews that are needed before a case can be filed. That’s why its important to consult a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible after you suspect malpractice because an investigation may take several months.
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