Unless you live your days with your head buried in the sand, you have undoubtedly heard or read stories in the news of doctors making serious errors during surgery. For example, many stories have surfaced of sponges or other surgical utensils being left inside a patient after being closed up following surgery. Many a story has also revealed surgeons operating on the wrong side of the brain, or amputating the wrong limb. These are some of the more extreme types of cases that ultimately lead to medical malpractice cases, but there are many different levels of medical errors, which lead to some sort of injury to the patient. There are many other medical situations where the patient or the patient's family feels a physician caused the patient harm by violating the standard of care. Most, if not all, of these situations result in malpractice claims being filed by the patients and/or the patients families through one of the many medical malpractice lawyers that specialize in this area of law.

When in need of a malpractice attorney, just any attorney will not do. It is best to engage the services of a medical malpractice attorney who specializes in medical malpractice. There are tons of malpractice lawyers out there, so there will be no shortage of attorneys who can represent you and that are specially trained in the area of medical malpractice.

There are two types of medical malpractice lawyers: ones who represent plaintiffs and those who represent defendants. They do not typically represent both sides of the fence, so if you are a patient seeking to file a lawsuit against a doctor, paying a visit to a medical malpractice defense firm will likely be a waste of your time. In legal terms, the plaintiff is the individual or individuals who file the lawsuit claiming some sort of harm and seeking monetary damages. A defendant is anyone against whom a lawsuit is filed. In medical malpractice, the plaintiff is typically the patient himself who claims an injury at the hands of a doctor or medical facility. However, there can be more than one plaintiff. For example, the patient's spouse may also be named as a plaintiff for damages associated with loss of familial support due to the patient-spouse's inability to contribute to the household financially or physically due to the claimed injury. Family members may also be named as plaintiffs if the patient died as a result of the medical treatment complained of. Defendants can be the physician or physicians who treated the patient and possibly the medical facility where the patient was treated.

Malpractice lawyers who represent plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases are often sole practitioners or work in a very small sized law firm. These cases are typically taken on a contingency basis, meaning that no hourly rate or retainer fee is charged, but the attorney is entitled to receive a percentage of the recovery at the end of the case plus all costs incurred during the case that the attorney fronted for the patient. Those representing defendants in medical malpractice cases are often from larger law firms who are on the defendants malpractice insurance companies panel of approved attorneys. This means that typically the insurance company that covers a given defendant chooses who will represent him in a malpractice claim.

Malpractice plaintiffs have their choice when it comes to finding medical malpractice lawyers to handle their medical malpractice claims. This gives them the freedom to find someone with whom they feel comfortable and can trust. Defendants must often take what they are given. In either situation, so long as the attorney specializes in malpractice, most likely the legal representation provided will be more than adequate.