Medical Malpractice Quick Facts Day 2: Depositions, Experts, Mediation, Arbitration, And Other Points Of New York Medical Malpractice

For our second medical malpractice quick facts day, lets go through the case real briefly and delve into the middle.  To start there is a summons and complaint which sets forth your allegations.  The defendant submits an answer which responds to the allegations in the complaint.  There is a demand for documents and further information about the claims.  Then the case goes to…

Depositions – this is where the attorneys get to ask questions of the actual parties.  The defense attorneys get to ask the plaintiff questions, and the plaintiff’s attorney gets to ask the defendants questions.  This is done on the record so there is a transcript of everything said.  This is where cases are made or broken, and it is very important to be prepared.

Experts – almost every single medical malpractice case will require an expert witness from the plaintiff.  This is because you need to explain what the standard of care is and how the defendant’s deviated from the standard of care.  Expert responses are massive documents that are incredibly long, detailed, and have lots of exhibits.  These help set forth your allegations in your claims.

Mediation – this is a type of alternative dispute resolution wherein the parties present their cases to a mediator who will act like a judge or referee to explain the positives, negatives, and disadvantages of each case.  The mediator will try to get the case to settle or resolve, or help to narrow issues for all parties to understand the other side.  Mediations help move cases along.

Arbitration – this is like a mediation, but more procedural and like a bench trial.  The result here is final and binding on the parties.  Arbitration is cost-effective because it moves much faster than a regular trial, and it really helps parties move on through their lives quicker, with less money spent, and also helps to get them money in a settlement quicker.