The law of North Carolina (NC) that governs lawsuits against doctors, hospitals, nurses or other health care providers requires certification before you can go to court–certification that an expert in the appropriate field of medicine has reviewed the case and has agreed that the doctor in question violated the applicable standard of care in their treatment of the patient. This law which requires that you have the appropriate medical expert before going to court makes it important to get the best injury attorney that you can to handle your North Carolina medical malpractice case. The top injury lawyers who focus on medical negligence have access to appropriate doctors to prove their cases. Even if the patient has suffered a serious injury or even death because of an error by a health care provider, it can be very difficult to find a doctor who is willing to stand up and testify under oath that the first doctor made serious errors. If you have a catastrophic and permanent injury as a result of the doctor or hospital’s mistake in North Carolina, you need to have an experienced attorney on your side who is in a position to find the highly qualified doctors in the right specialty to prove your case. Without the right expert, you cannot hope to win these hard fought cases.
The insurance company for the doctor or hospital who’s at fault in causing your injury will not simply pay you the money because they feel sorry for having done you harm. The insurance company will fight you every step of the way and typically not voluntarily settle a case until your attorney has shown all of his cards including what experts he has managed to arrange to support the claim. In addition to the difficulty of finding these experts, there’s also the question of paying the expenses of the experts for their time. These costs start off in the $5,000.00 and $10,000.00 range just for an initial review. By the time a North Carolina medical malpractice case is resolved by jury verdict or settlement at mediation, it has typically taken $20,000.00, $50,000.00 or even $100,000.00 of out-of-pocket expense to prove the validity of the claim. So, unless you are in a position to pay this money yourself which most clients are not, then you have to have an attorney and a law firm who has the financial clout to invest in your case to get something done for you–and the experience to advise you when your case has merit. Another thing which separates the experienced medical malpractice lawyers in North Carolina from those who just dabble or advertise for such cases is the willingness to shell out the significant dollars as client cost advance to pursue the case. Thus, you really must have experienced counsel who knows the injury law and routinely does medical malpractice in order to successfully get compensation for a botched surgery, a mis- diagnosis, a medication/medicine error, or other injury which does happen in the health care system.
Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the Northeast North Carolina (NC) border, practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. The firm’s website is: hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.
Rick Shapiro has practiced personal injury law for over 30 years in Virginia, North Carolina, and throughout the Southeastern United States. He is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy (ABA Accredited) and has litigated injury cases throughout the eastern United States, including wrongful death, trucking, faulty products, railroad, and medical negligence claims. During his three-decade career, Shapiro has won client appeals before the VA Supreme Court, VA Court of Appeals, NC Supreme Court, SC Supreme Court, WV Supreme Court, TN Supreme Court, and three times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, underscoring Shapiro’s trial achievements. In addition, he and his law firm have won settlements/verdicts in excess of $100 million. His success in and out of the courtroom is a big reason why he was named 2019 “Lawyer of the Year” in railroad law in U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers publication (Norfolk, VA area), and he has been named a “Best Lawyer” and “Super Lawyer” by those peer-reviewed organizations for multiple years. Rick was also named a “Leader in the Law, Class of 2022” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly (total of 33 statewide honorees consisting of lawyers and judges across Virginia). And in September 2023, Rick was selected as a recipient of the National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) 2023 President’s Award. Although many nominations were submitted from across the country, Rick was just one of eight attorneys chosen by the prestigious National Board which certifies civil trial attorneys across the U.S. Rick was also recently named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2024 Virginia’s Go To Lawyers Medical Malpractice. The attorneys awarded this honor are nominated by their colleagues and chosen by a panel from the publication.
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