Best Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Princeton, New Jersey?

April 24, 2007 8:55 AM

Best Medical Malpractice lawyer in Princeton, New Jersey?

I'm trying to find the best Medical Malpractice Lawyer in New Jersey for a friend. I'm not quite sure how to go about finding someone reputable who knows exactly what they're doing. Cost is not an issue. I want to be sure my friend gets all the help and resources they need.

posted by LavishingUndertone to law & government (7 comments total)

Unfortunately, I can't give you a personal recommendation. But your friend may want to contact the Mercer County Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service if you come up dry here.
posted by amro at 9:06 AM on April 24, 2007

"Cost is not an issue" sounds weird. This type of litigation (like most) is ultimately about money and your friend should think of it in those terms. Is your friend planning to pay this lawyer on an hourly basis? That would be unusual for this type of claim.

Also, there is no "best" lawyer for a general type of law; it's a question of what is right for the type of injury and the parties involved. Around where I am, you will have trouble getting the "best" to take your case unless it is a very strong, high-dollar case or you have a referral from someone close to the lawyer. So, be prepared to think about who is the right attorney for the specific situation, because you won't generally get very far with the approach you are talking about.
posted by jcwagner at 9:28 AM on April 24, 2007

As an aside, generally speaking, this type of lawyer takes cases on contingency. They get 1/3 of whatever is collected if they win the case or settle. Thus, cost really _isn't_ an issue.
posted by killdevil at 10:12 AM on April 24, 2007

Cost is not an issue simply because I want to help this friend to the best of my ability. They were put in a very bad spot, the suit is not about money at all. It's about correcting a wrong and making sure that the same thing doesn't happen to someone else.

My apologies for not properly wording what I meant by best... It's been a hectic week, I should have taken more time with this.

Best = Well known who has the reputation and stats to back up the work that they have done and are capable of doing.

Friends story:

Brittany had a nervous breakdown for the first time in her life this last year... It was her first experience with panic attacks. She couldn't breathe or calm down. To the point which she left for home from a business trip and called her PCP. It was over a weekend that all of this happened so the PCP was unable to see her and referred her to a hospital. Brittany wanting to make sure that nothing serious was happening went to the hospital and had a series of tests done. At one point they had a psychologist come in and speak with her to make sure she was okay. While she was talking to the psychologist she had another panic attack which the new psychologist was unaware of. Long story short the psychologist said she could commit herself voluntarily to a psych ward or they would commit her. (no choice in the matter) Brittany was simply having a panic attack and should not have been committed... This psychologist should have known that. (this is not the reason for the suit) To go on... the psych ward had her take meds one of which was prozac. She had to spend the weekend in the psych ward and was able to get out immediately on Monday when a psycholgist was in. The only way she would be released was if she continued to see this psychologist on an out-patient program. The doctor prescribed her prozac... After a few weeks on it and feeling absolutely terrible she told the psychologist how she was reacting to it and his approach to it was that it was too low of a dosage and that they should increase it. She complied. after this routine happening a few times and each time feeling worse than she did before she decided to wean herself off of prozac. In result of taking the drug she has had short term memory loss. All of this is backed up with medical records both prior to the use of prozac and after.
posted by LavishingUndertone at 10:26 AM on April 24, 2007

Killdevil: I knew there was some sort of split in the settlement but its good to know roughly what they will get. Thanks!
posted by LavishingUndertone at 10:27 AM on April 24, 2007

[FWIW, extreme anxiety can cause short term memory loss as well.]
posted by availablelight at 1:30 PM on April 24, 2007

There are some things you might want to consider in your search for an attorney;

I'm not sure I'm seeing what the basis for a huge malpractice suit is. That your friend spent a weekend in a psych ward? Did your friend suffer some sort of abuse there? A malpractice suit may not be about money to your friend, but I guarantee it will be about money to an attorney since this isn't the case of a bunch of kids dying from a shoddy doctor or the like that might drum up some outrage on your attorney's part. Why would a "best" malpractice attorney in New Jersey take a case like this when nobody suffered major harm and there isn't much money in it for him?

Also, a big lawsuit is incredibly stressful. If your friend already has problems with panic attacks, how is this going to help? If it did go to trial, I assure you your friend would face really, really strong questioning.

I'm not being a jerk here, really. You need to consider these things if you're really dead set on pursuing a good (read:expensive) attorney and possibly a lengthy, time consuming, stressful, and expensive process.

You also may need to rethink the idea that you're going to hire the best malpractice attorney in New Jersey since someone who is a top attorney is almost certainly already involved in cases that make this one seem trivial.

I suggest a free consult with a non-best-in-state attorney. If they think you have a case, then consider your options. It may be you don't have a case. It may be you have a case but it won't be worth pursuing unless there is something you're not telling us about what happened to your friend in the psych ward. And so on.
posted by Justinian at 6:33 PM on April 24, 2007