menu

Why Hiring a Doctor-Turned-Lawyer Is Best for Your Los Angeles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

BIKLaw Medical Malpractice Lawyer > Medical Malpractice > Why Hiring a Doctor-Turned-Lawyer Is Best for Your Los Angeles Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

Healthcare providers are meant to protect the health of their patients — not cause further harm to them. Yet doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals are human beings, and sometimes, they make mistakes. Sometimes those accidents are harmless, while other times, they can be life-altering or even fatal.

When a healthcare worker injures you, you can file a medical malpractice claim to recover compensation for the damages caused to you, but how much money you walk away with depends mainly on the skill and experience of your medical malpractice attorney.

Hiring a doctor-turned-lawyer to handle your medical malpractice claim affords you a unique advantage. A lawyer who is also a medical doctor, such as Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq. has levels of both legal and medical experience and expertise that give him a valuable perspective in medical malpractice cases.

Knowledge of Standard Medical Procedures

Medical malpractice is one of the most complex areas of personal injury law. Building an argument to prove that medical malpractice occurred means knowing the standard practices and procedures that healthcare providers typically use. Proving that a healthcare worker violated protocol is vital to a successful medical malpractice claim.

A doctor-turned-lawyer has insider knowledge of the procedures in place to help identify medical errors. For example, when two medications have similar names, a doctor can determine that a higher degree of care should have been used by the prescribing doctor, staff, and pharmacist to ensure that the patient wouldn’t have been given the wrong medication. A doctor-turned-lawyer, unlike a garden variety lawyer, will also know what the two medications are, and what side effects they can have.

Awareness of Common Medical Errors

Medical malpractice encompasses a broad range of medical professions. Surgeons, dentists, chiropractors, and EMTs are just a few providers who might find themselves at the center of a medical malpractice case.

Yet despite the broad array of possible medical errors that might occur, just a handful serve as the most frequent actions around which a medical malpractice case revolves. These most common medical errors include:

  • Medication errors
  • Procedural errors
  • Surgical errors
  • Delayed diagnosis
  • Birth errors
  • Failure to treat

When you consult with a lawyer who was a former doctor about your concerns that medical malpractice has occurred, they have a much broader knowledge base for considering your medical care and building a case.

This means that you have a greater chance of a medical error being identified, even when it doesn’t fall into one of the main categories that medical malpractice lawyers often consider.

Judgment of Expert Witness Testimony

A successful medical malpractice case often hinges on the testimony of expert medical witnesses. These individuals are a healthcare providers with knowledge and experience relating to the medical role or events in question.

The medical expert witness’s job is to testify under oath that a patient’s treatment did not meet the standard of care expected of a medical professional.

Since medical expert witness testimony is one of the most important elements of your case, their testimony must be detailed and complete. In most medical malpractice cases, the medical expert witness has a greater level of medical knowledge than the medical malpractice lawyer.

When your lawyer is a former doctor, however, they may have similar knowledge as the expert witness, and your lawyer can apply their expertise to consider the expert’s testimony and ensure it covers everything your case needs to be successful.

Expertise in Unclear Medical Issues

Not every medical malpractice case is clear-cut, especially for people without medical training. In some cases, a client might suspect that medical malpractice has occurred, but they may not possess the medical knowledge required to identify where or how something went wrong during the course of their medical treatment.

A medical malpractice lawyer with medical training can review your records with the knowledge necessary to identify the point in your treatment at which a healthcare provider acted negligently.

For example, a patient may have clearly demonstrated signs of a particular medical condition. Yet, the treating doctor may have failed to identify these and offer a prompt diagnosis, leaving the patient without the treatment they needed.

Speak with a Doctor-Turned-Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today

If you’re considering bringing forward a medical malpractice claim, The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq. has the medical and legal expertise you need.

Dr. Bradley Kramer is a licensed physician-turned-medical malpractice attorney. He has built a practice around helping clients recover compensation in complex, high-value medical malpractice cases. Dr. Kramer’s background gives him the clinical expertise that allows him to build successful cases for his medical malpractice clients.

To learn more about how we can help you recover compensation related to medical malpractice, contact The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq. today.

Questions? Contact us