Information and Insight for Injured Iowans

     There are many factors that should be considered when deciding on a medical malpractice attorney. Some factors can be evaluated on paper while others can only be judged in person. After making a list of potential attorneys, comparing their written materials, and narrowing down the list, the final step is meeting with the few attorneys left on that list. 

     Call each of the offices on your short list of potential attorneys and schedule an appointment to speak with an attorney. There is absolutely no substitute for sitting down with an attorney to determine if he or she will be a good fit for you. In order for an attorney to represent you well, you have to be comfortable with the attorney and trust him or her. In addition to your general feeling about each attorney, it is also important that you ask each of them the right questions. 

     We have written a free 35-page guide for medical malpractice victims, which can be ordered at Iowa Malpractice Facts.  It contains some questions you should ask about the prospective attorney’s experience in medical malpractice claims.    

     Are you looking for a qualified personal injury attorney in Iowa? A great way to find one is by checking with great lawyers within the state of Iowa. This doesn’t mean you have to search through the pages of a phone book or search endlessly on the Internet; instead, ask any potential attorney if they are a member of the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers.

     The Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers is an invitation-only organization limited to the top 250 trial attorneys in Iowa. In order to be inducted, a lawyer must be nominated by a current member and then be evaluated by all Academy members. The Academy executive committee then selects inductees from among the qualified nominees. Membership in the Academy demonstrates a lawyer has a good reputation for trying cases in Iowa’s courtrooms.

     Find out other questions to ask your potential attorney by going to Iowa Car Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

     Despite the multitude of information concerning medical malpractice, there is confusion about what malpractice entails and the effects it can have on the Iowa medical system. Educating yourself is the first way to protect yourself and your family from the misconceptions surrounding medical malpractice.
     “Medical malpractice” is a term used to describe a situation where a health care provider-like a doctor or a nurse- makes a medical error that results in serious harm to a patient. Medical malpractice can come in many shapes and sizes- a missed diagnosis, a delay in treatment, or an improper technique. Malpractice can happen at any stage of medical treatment and is not limited to just hospital care. Doctors’ offices, dentists’ chairs and chiropractors’ tables are all places where medical malpractice can occur.
Medical malpractice is surprisingly common. According to the National Academies of Science, as many as 98,000 Americans die from medical errors each year, and studies have shown that one in three Americans say that they or a family member have been a victim of an error during medical treatment.
     While medical malpractice is common, medical malpractice lawsuits are not common in Iowa. Despite what you have no doubt heard, medical malpractice lawsuits are not clogging up Iowa’s courts and medical malpractice verdicts in Iowa are not growing out of control. Here are the facts:

• Between 2002 and 2006, the number of medical malpractice claims in Iowa fell by 29%.
• Between 1992 and 2005, the total number of jury trials in Iowa fell by 38%.
• In the last decade, the average payment per settled medical malpractice claim was about $27,500.

     Why do so many people have mistaken beliefs about the medical malpractice system? Special interests like the insurance industry, HMOs, and drug companies have mounted multi-million dollar campaigns against the civil justice system and your Constitutional right to trial by jury. It is not difficult to understand why. Misinformation about an ever-increasing number of medical malpractice lawsuits that drive up the cost of medical care serves to poison juries and makes it difficult for a true malpractice victim to get justice in our courts.
     To learn more about medical malpractice claims in Iowa, go to Iowa Malpractice Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

     Just like with doctors in medical cases, specialization matters. Not everyone has the expertise and knowledge to assess truck accident cases. There are many factors contributing to an accident and these can often times be overlooked by the untrained eye. Because of this, most semi accident cases would benefit from hiring a trucking industry expert witness.

     A good trucking industry expert can analyze the truck driver’s log and the trucking company’s records. An expert can identify applicable federal and state regulations and point out violations of trucking industry standards. As Cedar Rapids, Iowa, truck accident attorneys, we believe that failing to hire an industry expert to review a trucker’s records in a serious semi wreck can be a crucial error.

     For the truth about other mistakes that can impact your truck accident claim, go to Iowa Truck Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

     Despite the fairly common occurrence of car accidents, there is a lot of confusion surrounding them.  Every day our office gets call from car accident victims who are uncertain about what they need to do following an accident.

     If you are injured in a car accident caused by another driver’s mistake, you have a personal injury claim. Under Iowa law, a car accident victim who wants to be compensated for a personal injury must be able to prove:

·         That the other driver was negligent

·         That the other driver’s negligence caused damage to the car accident victim

·         The amount of the car accident victim’s damages

     If the car accident victim cannot prove any one of the above three elements in a court of law, he or she is not entitled to compensation. That means the burden of proving everything—from identifying the important witnesses at the accident scene to providing documentation of all injury-related losses—ultimately falls on you, the car accident victim.

     For a more detailed explanation of an Iowa car accident victim’s legal obligations, go to Iowa Car Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

     While you may believe poor medical treatment caused problems for you or a family member, you will usually need a doctor to confirm it.  It is important to know which doctors can and will help you, and how to use their expertise to get answers.
     In order to prove that a doctor committed malpractice in Iowa, an injured patient must usually present evidence showing that what the doctor did was different than what the average doctor- with the same experience and training- would have done. This evidence must usually come from another doctor who specializes in the same type of medicine as the doctor who is suspected of malpractice. In other words, if an emergency room doctor made a serious error during your treatment, you will usually need another emergency room doctor to testify that the care you received was “malpractice.”
In order to find out whether medical treatment qualifies as malpractice, an attorney has to gather all of the important medical records for an injured patient and then have those records evaluated by a doctor who will look for treatment that is “below the standard of care.”
     Usually, Iowa doctors will not publicly criticize the care provided by other Iowa doctors. That means that Iowa malpractice victims often need to have their cases evaluated by out-of-state doctors. A review by an out-of-state expert is usually the only way an injured patient can be assured of getting an honest assessment of questionable medical care.
     For that reason, a medical malpractice attorney must have contacts with medical experts around the country and enough expertise to gather the right records and ask the right questions. As you can probably imagine, contacts in the national community and medical-legal expertise can require years to develop. That is why it can be important to put your trust and your case in the hands of an Iowa attorney who has real experience handling medical malpractice cases.
     To learn more about medical malpractice in Iowa, go to Iowa Malpractice Facts to download a free 35-page guide.

     The actions that you take following a truck accident can have lasting effects. As Iowa personal injury attorneys, we understand the importance of acting quickly after a truck accident. While taking photographs and speaking with law enforcement officials is crucial to your truck accident claim, it is just as important to promptly obtain the trucking companies records from both before and after the accident.

     Because there are special laws and regulations governing semi-trucks and the people who drive them, there should be documents showing when the trucker last stopped, slept, or even checked his brake lights. Unfortunately, the trucking company can start destroying driver logs and the supporting documentation after just six months. That is why it is essential that a truck crash victim’s attorney send a retention of evidence letter to the trucking company, the trucker’s insurance company and the truck driver as soon as possible.

     For the truth behind other mistakes that can impact your truck accident claim, go to Iowa Truck Accident Facts to download a free 35-page guide.