If you have experienced poor medical treatment after an accident or while receiving treatment for an illness, you likely have a case for medical malpractice. Here are the first four steps to filing a medical malpractice lawsuit to help get you started:

1. Talk to Your Doctor: The first thing you are going to want to do is talk to your doctor about your complaints. If anything can be fixed, your doctor is likely to provide treatment for free in order to correct the problem. This will help you avoid a messy lawsuit and still ensure that your medical needs are taken care of and addressed. If the doctor doesn't provide any helpful ways to resolve the problem, then continuing to file for a medical malpractice lawsuit is your best case scenario. 
2. Get a Certificate of Merit: The next step to take is to visit a medical expert who will access your medical records to determine what went wrong in your situation. This medical expert is going to provide merit that your case is legitimate and that you should go ahead and proceed with the case. 
3. Hire a Medical Malpractice Attorney: Once you have your certificate of merit, bring it to a medical malpractice attorney. Your attorney will ensure that this certificate is filed properly to show that you have the right to take action against your doctor or medical provider. Your medical malpractice attorney will also help you understand what your basic rights are in this situation and will evaluate your case to determine how much you should receive for compensation. Contact a lawyer, such as Robert Reardon, for more information. 
4. Try to Settle: Proceeding to court for your case can be quite time consuming. Instead, settling your case is the best option. Settling means that your doctor's or medical office's attorney will contact your attorney with a settlement offer that will cover the costs of repairing the damages caused to you in the case. The reason you want your attorney to be the one to negotiate on the settlement is because they will know, based on previous experience, whether or not the settlement amount is fair. If not, then your attorney will strategically provide a counter for the settlement amount. Most of the time, your doctor of medical office is going to want to settle in order to avoid court costs, as well. 

When you take these steps in filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, you can be sure that the course runs smoothly and can get settled as quickly as possible.