Has anyone ever looked into suing for medical malpractice after having a procedure done that caused your pain? I have type 2 that I ever had until a dental procedure. Just curious if anyone ever has
I've thought about it but I didn't for several reasons.
1) A lawsuit is a very stressful situation that takes time and energy, which I would rather devote to getting better.
2) Having a lawsuit can be construed as having a "secondary" gain and make other doctors reluctant to treat me.
3) Having a successful lawsuit involves being able to prove that the dentist did something wrong, which is difficult - in court, the only thing that they look at is whether the dentist's technique meets the required standards of the profession, not what actually happened to you.
4) I would need to find a lawyer and expert witnesses who support the dental/trigeminal neuropathy connection, and most experts right now are adamantly in denial that there is one. Even if a neurologist or another dentist thinks there is a connection, health professionals protect their own and would be steer clear of throwing the dentist under the bus.
Unless you know exactly what the dentist did wrong (e.g. injected you with the incorrect medication, left some metal embedded in you, etc), this is a hard lawsuit to win. What you can try to do is take your medical bills to the dentist and ask him for compensation to settle out of court, with the implication that you're thinking of suing. Some dentists will pay you just to spare the inconvenience and the embarrassment of being sued. I personally didn't do this because I'm not thick skinned enough, but if you are having trouble paying for your own care and you think the dental procedure truly led to this, it's something to consider.
Hello Jennifer and Happy Thanksgiving,
I already filed a dental malpractice lawsuit against my dentist. The case is a catastrophic 12 implant full mouth restoration that went haywire, it caused me TN type of pain for over 2 years now and still going. Dental malpractice lawsuit is a very complex process but it is the right thing to do, this way dentist will learn to be more careful for any dental procedure like extraction, injections, root canals or implants that may affect any of the trigeminal nerves. OI'll be glad to talk to you about the details. My trial will take place May 2016, wish me luck.
cheers,
Nikos
P.S. Just recently I created a Facebook page for "TN caused by dental procedure", still in process of updating it....
https://www.facebook.com/Trigeminal-Neuralgia-caused-by-Dental-procedure-1631146117140119/likes
http://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/medical-malpractice/sue-dentist...
Here is a good document if you are considering suing. In my case, I felt that I had enough evidence to establish a causality, but not enough to establish a breach of duty. That's why I didn't file a lawsuit.
Yes, it is hard, if it was easy everyone would be doing it and YES you have to prove "Standard of care" problem and this is up to the jury to decide after hearing the "dental expert witness" of the plaintiff and the defense. I decided to go ahead with the malpractice process for ethical and pain/suffering reasons. My dentist dropped me and tried to buy me out(he offered me $30k) right at the time I was in acute TN pain, if I don't take a legal action he will feel free to repeat this to another patients. As I mentioned to Jennifer the trial will tale place May 2016. To make things worse my lawyer quit after the mediation, so currently I'm in search of Dental malpractice lawyer. Even if I will not be able to find a lawyer I am ready to present my self in court, I started reading books to that affect. Wish me luck... cheers Nikos
My husband is an injury lawyer and I will state two difficulties...1. Proving causation, that the dental care caused the TN, and 2. The TN resulted from negligence; there are many bad outcomes in medicine, but in general only negligence is malpractice. When I had tooth extracted part of the consent I signed said that I understood the risks, including nerve damage. I now believe that the extraction and /or the abscess that led up to it was the cause of my TN2. But, I would have probably gotten sepsis and died without the extraction. That being said, I am a big believer in talking to a lawyer to at least get the records, find out what they say and go from there. Btw lawyers get experts to look at cases, give opinions and testify all the time, it is how things are done. But there has to be some evidence about causation and negligence for even the best lawyer to be able to proceed. It is certainly something to think about.
Yes I did and the outcome was that my lawyer proved that the dentist was wrong .I had to file every single bit of correspondence between my dentist and myself ,doctors reports,communication details,the lot.It was hard work especially on top of the pain.Since then I have only met with positive experiences from doctors and dentists.I have never been made to feel an “awkward” patient.Also since then the dentist involved has changed the way he does the procedure that injured me .Positiveness for other patients has come out of it all.
Hello Eileen, I'd like to learn more about your experiences. As I replied to Jennifer I filed a malpractice lawsuit against my dentist that caused me TN for 3 years now and going, the trial will take place May 2016. I would love to talk to you. If you accept my friend request I can sent you my phone number to chat if you please. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours...
Eileen said:
Yes I did and the outcome was that my lawyer proved that the dentist was wrong .I had to file every single bit of correspondence between my dentist and myself ,doctors reports,communication details,the lot.It was hard work especially on top of the pain.Since then I have only met with positive experiences from doctors and dentists.I have never been made to feel an "awkward" patient.Also since then the dentist involved has changed the way he does the procedure that injured me .Positiveness for other patients has come out of it all.
Hullo Nikos ,I live in the UK and I used a system called "no win no gain."This is where if you don’t win your case nobody gets anything and you have no lawyers to pay.However if you do win your case the lawyer takes a substantial amount of your gain.In my case it was about 2/3rds of the sum gained.It was not much but it wasn’t about a lot of money it was getting the dentist to look at the procedure performed on me and reassess it or stop using it altogether.But if he had said “oops sorry I made a mistake” I would not have involved a lawyer.I feel no anger towards the dentist…that takes energy from my desire to heal.
Hello Eileen,
In US if you loose the case you have to pay all trial cost which can be up to $30k(ouch!). I am willing to risk it!
My dentist was not a true disciple of Hippocrates, he is still on denial, he never admitted he made a mistake. All he did it was to stop his treatment and drop me like a hot potato and asked me to seek help elsewhere even though I told him that he should look at a problem as an opportunity to learn something new. So I am very disappointed in him. As I said I am willing to represent my self in court unless I find a lawyer and and dental expert witness to represent me. I am in very bad TN pain for 2 years now taking gabaperine to ease the pain, someone needs to pain for all the pain and suffering I'm going thru.
Thank you for your response.
cheers
Nikos
Eileen said:
Hullo Nikos ,I live in the UK and I used a system called "no win no gain."This is where if you don't win your case nobody gets anything and you have no lawyers to pay.However if you do win your case the lawyer takes a substantial amount of your gain.In my case it was about 2/3rds of the sum gained.It was not much but it wasn't about a lot of money it was getting the dentist to look at the procedure performed on me and reassess it or stop using it altogether.But if he had said "oops sorry I made a mistake" I would not have involved a lawyer.I feel no anger towards the dentist....that takes energy from my desire to heal.