The death of an Indiana real estate agent has left her loved ones questioning the care that she received. Her children repeatedly warned staff that their mother was allergic to certain pain medication and that a previous exposure to the medicine made her very ill. Despite the warnings from the family, a doctor prescribed morphine to the patient anyway. 

 

The Post Tribune 8/17/08

There are numerous errors in the medical field that can cause serious injury or death. In a case where hospital employees disregard warnings about allergic reactions, the hospital can be found negligent through the actions of its employees. Nurses or other staff members can be guilty of medical malpractice as well. In addition to failure to properly medicate a patient, hospital staff can commit numerous other errors that can result in a medical malpractice claim against the hospital. Often, errors committed by the doctors treating their patients involve the hospital under an agency theory. 

Read more about Medical Malpractice

A recent study reveals that most Plaintiffs who pass up a settlement offer and go to trial received less of an award than they would have received had they taken the offer. The study further found that Defendants were wrong in 24% of their decisions to proceed to trial as contrasted to the Plaintiff's being wrong 61% of the time. The study further found that in only 15% of the cases, both the Plaintiff and Defendant were right in that the award was less than the Plaintiff's demand but more than the Defendant's offer. Under some estimates, approximately 80% to 92% of cases settle. Many skeptics of the profession argue that there is motive to go to trial so that lawyers can collect fees for preparation and attending trial. 

 

The Study will be published in the September issue of The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. On average, the study found cost plaintiff's $43,000.00. For defendant's, the cost was much greater, a whopping $1.1 million. The study found that there must not be an understanding between the lawyer and client about the odds of winning at trial. This leads to one of two conclusions: 1. Lawyers are doing a poor job explaining the odds to their clients, 2. the Clients are not taking their Lawyers advice.   

 

The study further found that some of the bad decisions made by Plaintiffs were associated contingency fees. The Study further found that the common errors by the defense were where there was a lack of coverage. 

 

Law Students do not learn how to handicap trials in law school. Only hands on experience will allow a lawyer to develop this skill. This is a skill that can be learned only after numerous trials are actually tried and either won or lost.

www.foranlaw.com/resources/maryland-injury-lawyer/settlements.html