What questions do I ask when looking for a lawyer to hire?
My dad died in a veterans hospital at age 52. The cause of death on the death certificate was accidental mixed drug overdose. What do I look for when hiring wrongful death lawyers? What do I ask? How can I tell If I have a good one?
Answers:
You need to find a lawyer who specializes in medical malpractice cases. Find one who is board certified too b/c they have advanced training in that area. If you know a lawyer, ask them if they know someone who specializes in that. If you have board certification in your state, look for a board certified civil trial lawyer. I am a lawyer and know who is good in our state and who is not but I am not sure how lay people who are not lawyers can find out. If you ask a lawyer, ask them
1) how long they have been practicing and what their areas of specialty are. Avoid anyone out less than 10 years or someone who specializes in lots of things, like wills, divorces, dog bites - that means they do a little of everything and not a lot of medical malpractice work which is what you need.
2) how many trials have they personally tried, alone, to verdict. A lot of lawyers talk a big line but never really tried a case to verdict. You want someone who has tried a lot of malpractice cases to verdict.
3) ask if they ever litigated a case involving prescription overdoses and deaths and/or the VA?
4) what are the limits of recovery against the VA? And can the dr's who treated your dad be sued separately if they are at fault?
If they are good they are going to want a lot of information from you - like your dad's records- before deciding whether to take your case. Medical malpractice cases are very expensive to bring to trial for the plaintiff's attorney and they are going to want to make sure the case is worth their time before they sink $50,000 - $100,000 of their own money into the case.
What state are you in?
First of all you should hire a lawyer. I am really sorry about your loss, but I think when you do, the lawyer will tell you that the VA is immune from suit for negligence or wrongful death.
Your dad may have had benefits. That's what you want to start looking into. You should also start looking into his finances, etc, and checking his mail. You will need to open a probate if he had property, etc.
Do you know Howard Stern?
Do background checks. Ask if they charge on a "contingency fee" basis. Check w/your city attorney referral service for lawyer referrals. In Columbus, Ohio our Attorney Referral is Columbus Bar Association...cbalaw.org.
a winner, ask around, legal referral,
other attorneys, not in malpractice, hospitals, see if you can find out about any on going cases, see who has had winning cases against the same hospital. it wont take long, once you start.
UNFORTUNATELY ITS GONNA TAKE MONEY.I WOULD START W LEGAL AID AND SEE WHAT THEY SAY.GOOD LUCK BOOCH
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