With nearly 100,000 wrongful deaths each year in the US due to medical negligence and over one million personal injury lawsuit claims, the demand for legal transcription services is soaring. To present medical malpractice and medical negligence cases effectively, lawyers may need to prepare and review several types of cumbersome legal documents and testimony of witnesses. And professional legal transcription companies provide invaluable support by helping legal professionals to document the court proceedings.
It was recently reported that an autistic woman won a $9 million settlement with the city in a Brooklyn hospital medical malpractice case. She had been sent home from ER despite her severe spinal injury and is still paralyzed. Medical malpractice cases such as this can continue for years, and involve extensive paperwork.
The lawsuit would begin with the filing of pleadings in the court. Documents that would need to be transcribed during the trial of a medical malpractice case would include:
- Complaint or petition – This would identify the parties involved and contain an outline the plaintiff’s case against the defendant.
- Summons and service of process – This is meant to notify the defendant that he or she has been sued. It refers to the complaint or petition and informs the defendant of time limit within which an answer must be filed.
- Answer – The answer is the defendant’s response. It may also set forth various legal reasons why the defendant should not be held liable for the plaintiff’s damages.
- Counterclaim – The counterclaim is written in a manner similar to the complaint. The defendant own claim against the plaintiff is raised in the counterclaim.
- Reply to counterclaim – This is the plaintiff’s reply to the counterclaim of the defendant.
Besides the above-mentioned papers, other documents involved in malpractice trials could include cross-claim, answer to cross-claim, third-party complaint and answer to third party complaint. All of these would have to be accurately transcribed for the successful completion of the trial.
Converting the recordings of legal proceedings and court reports into text documents can be a difficult and time-consuming process for busy lawyers, especially with medical malpractice cases on the rise. That’s why many of these professionals are now opting to outsource their documentation tasks to a reliable legal transcription company.
Established service providers have dedicated teams of legal transcriptionists with extensive expertise in providing accurate and timely transcripts of various types of legal documents such as case hearings, depositions, court reports, and more. In fact, with their in-depth knowledge about legal discourse, terminology, and jargon, these professionals will be able to provide quality transcripts that would give lawyers a clear understanding of the different aspects of the case. These documents would then turn into valuable records. Of course, choosing the right legal transcription company is crucial for timely and accurate transcripts. Partnering with a reliable company would enable the law firm’s in-house team to devote their valuable time to helping lawyers manage their caseload.
