Case Chronology: One physician’s humorous take
Alternate stages as described by a physician named in a case.
How Dr. Cronin Coped
Newsletter
Chronology of a Malpractice Case
Your suit may be dropped or dismissed shortly after the original filing, or it may take years to go through the entire trial and appeal process. In Massachusetts, the majority of suits take at least three years after the filing date to reach trial.
If you find yourself being named as a defendant in a malpractice suit, it may well be your first exposure to civil litigation. While you will probably wish it would just go away, you cannot ignore it no matter how you feel about the merits of the claim.
Every case follows its own path to conclusion, but this illustration depicts common steps in the process. Understanding what your involvement is likely to be along the way helps strengthen your ability to cope with what can be a long and drawn out course of events. While you will face occasional spurts of activity related to your case, you may not hear anything new about the proceedings for extended periods of time. Of course, for case-specific information, contact your CRICO claim representative or defense attorney.
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CME: The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine has endorsed each complete issue of Insights or 30-minutes of podcast episodes as suitable for 0.5 hours of Risk Management Category 1 Study in Massachusetts. You should keep track of these credits the same way you track your Category 2 credits.Related Content
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