What is the Process of a Dental Malpractice Lawsuit?

The dental malpractice suit can be described as both a pre-litigation phase and a post-litigation phase. In the pre-litigation phase, what the lawyer will do is gather up your medical records, send those medical records out to an expert who’s qualified to determine whether or not the dentist in your particular case breached that standard of care. This is all important because if the dentist didn’t breach the standard of care then we don’t really have a lawsuit to bring on your behalf. Once the dentist/dental expert opines that yes indeed, the dentist in your case has breached the standard of care, we’ll put together a demand package that will include the damages that you suffered, your medical records, as well as the opinion of that expert, and a demand letter that demands a certain amount to compensate you for your loss. Usually at that point, the case is settled. But, if the case doesn’t settle at that point, what we will do then is file a lawsuit. Then, after we file the lawsuit, we have to file a certificate of review which basically says an expert reviewed the case and agrees with the assertions that are put forth in the lawsuit. Then we go through discovery and go all the way up to trial if need be.

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