Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor or other health care provider deviates from standard care and, through negligence or error, causes injury or death. Medical malpractice cases can include birth injury, misdiagnoses of diseases or conditions, surgical complications due to negligence, sickness or death due to medication administration errors, and many other types of serious injury and wrongful death.

Keep in mind that a bad result due to a health care procedure or treatment doesn't automatically mean medical malpractice has occurred. A doctor may do everything correctly and may still lose a patient during surgery. This would not be a case of medical malpractice.

Pursuing a medical malpractice claim is a complex and lengthy process. To help build a medical malpractice case, a lawyer should be enlisted as soon as possible to gather and preserve critical evidence. Medical experts must evaluate complex records, reports and testimony. Negotiation may come into play with mediation or arbitration, but is not required under Minnesota law. It is important to understand that many medical malpractice lawsuits progress to jury trials and it's likely that your claim will progress to this stage of litigation. Depending on the complexity of the claim, along with the court's availability for trial, a medical malpractice case can last from nine months to over three years.