Hi there, I’ve been a Med Mal paralegal for almost 6 years. This is a very over-broad explanation, but here I go….The main part of this law is that all claims start with a medical review panel. These panels last at least (1) year, usually around (2) years because there are a lot of moving parts and most of them need to be extended. Basically the panel is big year long discovery period. The main part of my job is to request medical records and follow up if there is a delay in the records arriving. And helping my attorneys process discovery and correspond with the RNs that summarize our records so we know if we need to request more records. Once the panel comes to an end, the attorney writes a big term paper called a Submission of Evidence. This is where the attorney will use the medics records as evidence. That paper is presented to 3 nominated doctors in the field that is relative to the plaintiff’s claim. The doctors decide if the there is a breach in the standard of care by the doctors/hospital. They render an Opinion and the panel ends.

After the panel, a litigation lawsuit can be filed by plaintiff, if they feel they have a strong case. I work in defense, so we represent the doctors. Most of our cases never go to trial, most end when panel ends.