Many women have contacted us asking if they can sue their doctor for not informing them of all the risks. The answer is yes.  Will you win, that is the question...

Here is some information that you should be aware of…..

Because the issue is that which involves a doctor, and events that occurred in a medical setting one always thinks of medical malpractice.  While it may be true that malpractice occurs with the issue of non-consent, so do other laws such as fraud, contract law, torts, and more... 

For medical malpractice each state has a statue of limitations. That means you have a set amount of time to file suit after you were injured (date of your surgery). In some states this statue is one year, in others it is 18 months, in other states it is two years.

These statues of limitations time limit can be extend by a process called discovery.  If you were injured 5 years ago, but just now discover that you were injured (or that information was withheld) then your statue of limitations begins now and extends for the time period mandated by your state.

The above time limits apply to "personal injury, or malpractice". For other legal issues, (such as anti-trust Rico laws being violated, ....) the time frame and nature of suit may be different.

When approaching lawyers to take your case they will ask you if your current physician will testify or if you have been examined by a doctor who will testify to the causes of the injuries and to explain the injuries and neglect.  Lawyers ask this because in order for any lawyer to file a medical malpractice suit he/she needs to include with the filed complaint a written and signed document from a medical witness or expert. This is required in all states in order to file suit.

Below are the requirements set forth for Michigan. Each state has it's own requirements:

A complaint alleging malpractice must be accompanied by an affidavit of merit, signed by a health care professional meeting the qualifications of this section, setting forth (a) the applicable standard of care, (b) the opinion that the defendant breached the applicable standard of care, (c) the actions that should have been taken to avoid a breach of the applicable standard of care, and (d) the manner in which the breach was the proximate cause of plaintiff's injury.

For many reasons, your own physician or local physicians may not agree to write a declaration to be filed.   There may be a conflict of interest (the doctor is friends or knows the doctor that you are suing), the doctor may fear being black listed and targeted by his peers if he publicly testifies, or it might be that your physician is guilty of the same neglect and crimes that you are accusing the other doctor of.  

Lawyers like to get local doctors to testify if possible, but often medical experts are retained from outside the state to testify in complicated cases.

Lawyers are not required to take your case.  If they do not want to pursue your case or if they believe that they will not make money from pursing  your cause they will not take it.  If this occurs it does not mean that you do not have a case, or that you were not injured or violated.

It can greatly assist you in attaining proper legal counsel if you have a written document signed by a medical expert stating the nature and causes of your injuries when you start calling lawyers.

Vicki Hufnagel, MD is available to do full medical legal reviews for lawyers and mini reviews for post tubal women in order to help them attain legal counsel.  For more information contact the Hufnagel Institute at 323-874-5532.