You suspect that your doctor has done something that has caused you significant harm. When you go to your attorney, he will want to investigate the matter, and might ask you to turn over your medical records. However, is it proper for the attorney to give you such instructions?
The doctor refuses to acknowledge and admit that he has violated the basic standards of medical care. In a medical malpractice case, it is critical for the plaintiff’s lawyer to get the doctor to admit during pretrial testimony, why he violated the basic and accepted standards of care. In an actual medical malpractice case, an anesthesiologist improperly administered an anesthetic medication that caused the plaintiff to suffer a cardiac arrest.
In a medical malpractice case there could be instances where one of the defense attorneys could start screaming and yelling at the plaintiff’s lawyer during deposition. For instance, the plaintiff’s lawyer was taking pretrial testimony of an obstetrician in a medical malpractice case involving failure to deliver a baby in a timely manner, which caused significant injuries to the precious baby.
A deposition is a question and answer session that takes place under oath, before the trial. It is also called an examination before the trial, where both parties to the case are asked questions by the opposing lawyers. However, there could be a non-party witness deposition as well, in a medical malpractice or accident case. A non-party witness is one who is not part of the lawsuit.
When you have filed a medical malpractice case in New York, one of your main questions would be what the likelihood of settling the case early is, so that you do not have to deal with the entire litigation process. In New York, a medical malpractice case takes about two to three years from start to finish, and hence most people want to avoid this long litigation process and would like to find a solution for an earlier settlement.
