Being investigated for medical malpractice can be a trial for anyone. You already have your plate full taking care of patients and trying to make sure that you provide the highest level of care that you can. When a complaint comes in about you, your state licensing board can decide whether to investigate the claim or not. In some cases, they will see that the claim is unjustified and you may not even hear that one was filed against you.
In other cases, the licensing board will come and do a review to see whether or not the claim is legitimate. Sometimes the review turns up nothing, and you will face no penalties and no loss outside of time spent on the review. Other times, you could have heavy fees and even lose your medical license. No matter what the results, these reviews take up much time and can get costly.
Rather than trying to make it all on your own during this review, it is much better to hire a medical license defense lawyer in Greenville to help you out. They have worked on these medical license review cases in the past and understand the local and state laws regarding the collection of information and other important aspects that may arise during your review. Having this medical license defense lawyer in Greenville can help reduce the amount of worry that you have and may be able to help you keep your medical license.
Once you hear from your state licensing board that you are being investigated for a claim against you, there are a few steps that you should take. These include:
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Contact your malpractice insurance
Once you receive a letter about this investigation, it is time to contact your insurance carrier. This is not only the smart thing to do to let them know what is going on, but it is going to be required by most policies if you wish to get compensation for any expenses in the investigation. The sooner you are able to contact this insurance carrier, the easier the process will be if something does come up.
Contact a medical license defense lawyer in Greenville
The next step is to find a defense lawyer who can help you work through this review and keep your medical license. It is best to go with a defense lawyer who has a lot of experience with administrative law and with the administrative code in your state. If possible, contact an attorney who has been able to deal directly with the board in your state many times before on issues that is similar.
This experience will come in handy when you are in the middle of the review because the medical license defense lawyer will know what to do or say to help your case. If you are not certain whom to use, ask for a recommendation from other s in your medical field or your state professional organization. Never try to do this review on your own.
Identify top s in your field
One of the many ways that your medical license defense lawyer in Greenville is to find top s in your field to help with your case. Your defense lawyer will have some ideas of whom to talk to if they have been in the industry for some time, but the more s that are on your side and can be used, the easier the review will go for you.
You can help by asking professionals in your field that you are familiar with who the top s on the issue are and whether the stance of that on that issue is going to help your case or not. You can also go online and look up s. Do not just pick the first in the field that you can find. Read their articles, look at their resumes and credentials, and read their books if they have some. You may find that just because they are in the field does not mean that their stance on the issue will help your case.
Why would you want to get these s and their stance on your side? reports and testimonies can sometimes mean the difference between high penalties and a loss of your professional license, and a defense that is effective and convincing. You want to go with some of the best s and testimonies in the field. Picking out an who is unhelpful, uninformed, or even sounds weak can put a blow to your case. And even if an is good at their job does not mean that they are going to be good for your case.
Your medical license defense lawyer in Greenville will be able to help you pick out the right s to make your case strong. They can look over your recommendations and discuss with you why each one would work and why some will not.
Always be an active part of the defense
While you will hire a medical license defense lawyer in Greenville to help handle your case and maneuver around some of the complex issues that will come up and allow you to put more attention to your current practice, it is still important that you are an active part of the defense. Your defense lawyer is skilled at handling these types of investigations, but they will still need some assistance from you.
If your lawyer needs to you help them understand what happened during the case, the context of the case, help with locating s, or you to provide certain documents, then try to oblige them as quickly as possible. This will ensure that your case can go as smoothly as possible.
Take care of yourself
It will not take you long to realize that being under this kind of investigation is stressful. And they can take a long time before you see a resolution, either favorable or not. You need to have a strategy in place and figure out the best ways to manage your stress. You should build up a good support group who will support you and not bring you down. Having this is so important because if you have a mental break down during the case, it will be harder for your medical license defense lawyer in Greenville to come up with a good case that you are competent in your specialty.
Your method of taking care of yourself will vary. Some people work out, some people try meditation, and others try to be around people who are supportive. Try to be active in the case as well because knowing what is going on can do wonders for reducing your stress, but do take a break if things start to feel overwhelming. Your medical license defense lawyer in Greenville is there to help take some of the stress off and get you through this investigation as easily as possible.
If you are dealing with a medical malpractice case and you are worried about losing your license, it is important to hire a good medical license defense lawyer in Greenville today. Contact us at Brumback and Langley to discuss your case and get started on a good strategy to help you keep your license, and your practice, today!