You shouldn’t feel guilty about your medical malpractice claim
By: Darrell Castle
Video Transcript
Hello this is Darrell Castle. I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and this is the third in our series of videos on medical malpractice. Today, I want to ask the question – should you feel guilty about suing your doctor, hospital, nurse, or whatever, for medical malpractice?
And a quick, simple answer to that question is “no, you should not.” The first reason is because you’ve suffered a serious injury or death, otherwise you would not be bringing this claim.
Let me put that in perspective, about things you should feel guilty about and not feel guilty about.
Let’s say you went in to get your haircut and the lady had long finger nails and she scratched your ear while cutting your hair. Should you feel guilty about bringing a claim against her in court for that? Well yes, obviously you should because you suffered no real injury. But suppose she had been using a pair of scissors on your hair and slipped and cut your ear off. Well, that’s a different matter, isn’t it? Because it’s probably going to require micro-surgery to reattach your ear. It’s probably going to require time in the hospital, disfiguring scars, that never go away. All of those things are serious enough in which someone should respond to you in damages for what has happened.
It’s the same in the medical profession – their injures tend to be serious and catastrophic when they happen. Who has to compensate you for the injury, death, hospitalization, compensation, pain and suffering of you or your loved one? It has to be the person who caused it or that person’s insurance company. That’s just the way it is so it is nothing to feel guilty about. If anyone should feel guilty, it is the person who caused the injury. That is the way we achieve justice in our society.
Medical malpractice claims, as we’ve said before, are difficult to bring. They’re not about retribution and revenge. In many ways, they’re not even about money. Money is a way of measuring success and failure. It is really about achieving justice for the injured person, and for that reason, no you should not feel guilty.
If you or a loved one think you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, don’t hesitate to contact us. You can speak to an experienced Memphis personal injury attorney, free of charge, by calling (901) 327-1212 or filling out one of our online contact forms.