The fact that a medical procedure is unsuccessful or a doctor or nurse fails to cure you, that is not, in and of itself, evidence that you were improperly treated. Doctors and nurses are human beings. Not all maladies can be cured. Many maladies, when they’re presented to the practitioner, Treatment Option A looks as reasonable as Treatment Option B, and if he chooses A or she chooses A and later it turns out B is what shoulda been done, that’s not negligence unless, at the time the decision was made, the customary and ordinary standard of care within the profession required you to choose the one that wasn’t chosen.

So the fact that a bad outcome occurred is not evidence of negligence. It’s a necessary element if you’re gonna bring a claim because negligence happens all the time, right? We change lanes without looking back and there’s somebody honking at us in the rearview mirror. That was negligence. But if nobody was hurt, you’re not gonna have a lawsuit.

We do get people who call us and say, “This doctor was so rude, so negligent, so outrageous that we wanna complain,” and, “Were you hurt?” “No, not really. I was sore for an extra few days.” We don’t take those cases. You know, maybe make a complaint to the Board of Medical Practice or something, but – so the fact that you were injured or didn’t get cured doesn’t end the inquiry, but it’s a necessary predicate.