The Obstacles to Getting Justice after a Medical Error

A successful medical malpractice case usually requires testimony from a qualified medical expert who says that the injured patient’s doctor committed a preventable medical error. This testimony is usually very difficult to get.

Think about it. First, you need to find a medical expert who is qualified to review the treatment that the injured patient received. Second, out of that pool of qualified experts, you have to find one who is willing to take time out of his or her busy practice to analyze and ultimately criticize the work of someone else in that pool. Third, out of the experts who are both qualified and willing to analyze and criticize, you need to find one who is brave enough to make his or her criticisms public by making them in writing and under oath. As you can probably imagine, this is a difficult person to find – particularly in a state as small as Iowa. Many Iowa doctors know each other, went to the same schools together and belong to the same medical organizations. For those reasons, Iowa doctors are rarely willing to testify as experts in medical malpractice cases against other Iowa doctors.

Finding a qualified expert to testify on behalf of an injured patient is often the most challenging part of a medical malpractice case. Without contacts with medical experts around the country and enough expertise to gather the right records and ask the right questions, it can be very difficult to get the necessary expert testimony to get a medical malpractice case to court. Most experienced Iowa medical malpractice attorneys do not even file a malpractice case unless they already have a report from a qualified expert. Injured patients or their families will rarely be successful in Iowa courts without qualified expert testimony identifying a preventable medical error. Finding that expert testimony often starts by finding the right medical malpractice attorney for your case.

To find out other information you need to find the right Iowa Medical Malpractice Attorney for your case, use the form to the right to download the entire Legal Insider’s Guide to Iowa Medical Malpractice Claims.