摘要：Patients who suffer an adverse health care outcome often assume that, but for the negligence of their treating physician, their condition would be different. Such patients then often engage a plaintiff attorney and begin a long journey down the tort pathway to seek compensation. This process is adversarial and has many inconsistencies. Many patients are seeking compensation for outcomes that clearly were out of the hands of the treating physicians and health care team. Nonetheless, clever lawyering skills can distort the picture and, when the case is presented to a lay jury, a windfall award can be granted. But who really wins here? If the patient gains an award, it is usually years after the adverse event, and the award is reduced by a large percentage that covers the attorney’s fees and expenditures associated with the trial.
