Medical negligence encompasses a broad spectrum of harm – from injuries during birth and surgical errors, to mistreatment in a care home or complications from eye surgery. Attorneys handling these cases must build claims on appropriate evidence, such as supporting medical records and expert reports. Both plaintiff and defence counsel increasingly rely on robust medical review solutions to organize and analyze the voluminous medical records required to demonstrate negligence and causation.
Once a patient initiates a medical negligence claim, the following are the key stages to be navigated.
Determining Whether Negligence Occurred
Duty, Breach, Causation and Damages
This first stage is foundational: before full investigation, the attorney must evaluate whether the healthcare provider owed a duty of care, whether that duty was breached, whether the breach caused injury and whether the injured party suffered damage. These four elements (duty, breach, causation and damages) are the legal foundation of a negligence claim — and failure to establish any one of them can doom the case.
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Once the patient has filed a medical malpractice claim, the following are the important stages of the claim –
Because of the substantial volume of cases filed, the burden on plaintiffs to show clear causation and breach remains acute. Recent statistics suggest that only around 30-40 % of medical malpractice cases in the U.S. result in a successful outcome for the claimant.
Read our blog on “Four Key Elements To Prove Medical Negligence Or Malpractice
Obtaining the Medical Records
Scope and Significance of Records Review
One of the most important stages in a medical negligence case is gathering the full medical chart: hospital records, operative reports, diagnostics (such as X-rays, ultrasounds), clinic notes, photographs, witness statements, billing information, expert reports, and more. These documents provide evidence of what treatment was rendered, how it was managed, what outcomes followed, and how the injured party’s life was impacted.
Given the complexity of modern medical care – including multidisciplinary teams, digital records, telemedicine, AI-driven decision support – the volume and variety of relevant records have grown significantly. Review tools that allow efficient summarization and indexing of records are increasingly indispensable for attorneys and insurers alike.
Discovery
Uncovering Evidence through Legal Processes
In a medical negligence claim, the discovery phase permits both plaintiff and defence to obtain from the other side relevant documents, depositions and expert statements. During depositions, the defendant physician (and sometimes other staff) must answer questions under oath by the plaintiff’s attorney; similarly, the injured party may be deposed by the defence.
This phase allows each side to assess their opponent’s case strengths and weaknesses—facilitating settlement or trial preparation. Many attorneys engage specialized services to prepare deposition summaries, organize transcripts and extract relevant issues, which can be critical when the medical records span thousands of pages.
Settlement Negotiations
Economic and Non-economic Damages
Medical negligence claims may be resolved before trial. If causation and breach are established, the medico-legal team calculates the value of the case for settlement. Damages typically fall into two categories:
- Economic losses: past and future medical bills, loss of income, cost of long-term care, home modifications, etc.
- Non-economic losses: pain and suffering, emotional distress, impact on quality of life/family.
Key factors influencing settlement value include the patient’s age, severity of injury, prognosis, extent of care required, and the clarity of evidence of liability. Settlement negotiations may stretch over weeks or months. If the defence maintains the physician was not at fault, settlement may fail and the matter proceeds to trial.
Recent Developments
In the U.S., the average payout for malpractice claims settled in 2023 was around US $420,000.
Such trends underscore increasing pressure on insurers, institutions and counsel to resolve claims efficiently and accurately.
Trial
Pre-trial Preparation, Expert Testimony and Verdicts
If settlement is not achieved, the matter advances to trial. Pre-trial preparation may involve months or years of investigation; expert physicians are called to testify about the standard of care, the breach and how the plaintiff’s life is affected. During trial, both plaintiff and defence present evidence, examine and cross-examine witnesses and experts, argue liability and damages, and the jury or judge decides on fault and compensation.
If the plaintiff succeeds, an award is entered; the losing party may appeal and if an appeal is filed, payouts may be stayed until final resolution.
Noteworthy Trends
In the U.S., 2025 has seen some remarkable verdicts — for example, a New Mexico jury awarded US $16.75 million in January for a retained surgical instrument case.
Also, the severity and cost of claims continue to escalate: a 2025 professional-liability update noted that average claim severity has been rising, especially in cardiology and cardiovascular surgery specialties.
Leveraging Medical Record Review Services
Why Efficient Review Matters
While attorneys focus on proving negligence, firms specializing in medical-record review play a crucial supporting role. These companies help organize, summarize, index and flag key records, enabling legal teams to quickly identify where breach and causation issues likely lie. In an age of digital health records, telemedicine and AI-assisted care, the volume and complexity of records are growing — making efficient review more than just helpful; it’s a competitive necessity.
Emerging Considerations
More claims now involve AI-assisted diagnostics or telemedicine platforms; therefore, records may include logs of AI-tool usage, decision-support system inputs/outcomes, and vendor documentation.
Statutory time-limits and doctrines such as the “continuous treatment doctrine” are evolving (see below in latest updates).
7. Latest Developments & Trends
Liabilities and Cost Pressures
U.S. data show increasing severity and cost, particularly in high-risk specialties like cardiovascular surgery.
Impact of Technology on Medical Negligence
The integration of AI in healthcare (diagnostics, surgery, telemedicine) is creating novel liability issues: who is accountable — physician, hospital, tool-vendor? The number of AI-related malpractice claims increased by about 14 % between 2022 and 2024.
Legal practitioners now need to request AI-system logs and decision-support tool data during discovery, creating new layers of review and documentation.
Legal/Procedural Developments
In the U.S., courts have clarified the “continuous treatment doctrine” which may extend the statute of limitations for malpractice claims when care is ongoing.
For attorneys and insurers, the increasing costs of claims plus the heavy administrative burden of records review and expert coordination make efficient case-management solutions a priority.
Practical Implications for Attorneys and Insurers
For Attorneys Handling Medical Negligence Cases
- Early assessment: Conduct an initial screening of medical records as soon as possible to determine claim viability and the scope of discovery.
- Records-review infrastructure: Use specialized services to summarize large record sets, identify gaps and flag key causation or breach issues.
- Expert coordination: Secure early engagement of medical experts familiar with emerging issues (e.g. AI-assisted diagnostics, telemedicine, digital health).
- Settlement strategy vs trial readiness: Given the increasing claim severity and cost pressure, prepare both for efficient settlement and credible trial posture.
- Stay current with doctrine law: Monitor limitations-period issues (continuous treatment doctrine), jurisdictional reforms and new case law/regulations.
For Insurers and Risk Managers
- Benchmark severity trends: Use industry data to calibrate reserves and indemnity exposure.
- Monitor technology liability: Recognize that use of AI/decision-support in healthcare may expand vendor/insurer exposure beyond traditional physician liability.
- Focus on prevention/patient safety: With escalating liabilities, prevention of harm is both a risk management and financial imperative.
- Streamline record review workflows: As record volumes increase, efficient indexation and analytics of records can reduce defence costs and improve claim resolution times.
In today’s evolving healthcare-legal landscape, the stages of a medical negligence claim remain fundamentally the same — determining negligence, securing records, discovery, settlement negotiation, trial readiness and resolution. What is changing, however, are the stakes (with costs and liabilities rising sharply), the nature of evidence (with AI, telemedicine, digital health records), and the procedural framework (statutes of limitation, expert-panel guidelines, cost-control reforms).
For attorneys, insurers and healthcare organizations, investing in systems that enable efficient medical-record review, expert coordination and informed settlement-vs-trial strategy is no longer optional — it is essential. As the data shows, claim cost and complexity are rising; the opportunity to manage risk, control costs and serve the injured patient’s justice journey is greater than ever. While attorneys are busy proving negligence, professional companies providing medical record review for malpractice cases can assist them in organizing, summarizing and reviewing medical records for their cases.
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